Hear Me
by A big admirer of time
Summary: A deaf Judy AU. Follow our favorite pairing as they build up a relationship, and face the many bumps, or more like mountains, along the road of fluffy moments.
1. How it all began

_What if?_

 _What if she hadn't been born deaf? What if she'd had a chance for a perfectly normal life? What if she could have heard her parents back when they used to kiss her goodnight? What if she wasn't destined to miss every single enjoyable sound that existed? What if she could've become a police officer? What if she had the chance to live like everyone else? What if the all surrounding silence that had always controlled her life hadn't blocked out the words coming from the seat behind her?_

* * *

"Hey! Ears down, Fluff!" Nick pleaded in a near whisper, the gray and white bunny sitting at the desk in front of him not so much as flinching at the request. "I seriously can't see a thing that professor Boring over there is writing, so could you kindly drop 'em?"

No reaction. His day had already been extremely crappy, filled with a caffeine-free morning and far too many hours of sitting down scribbling about things he'd never need in real life, so it was no wonder that at this point he was getting a little exasperated- to put it mildly.

Leaning his muzzle as close to her ear as possible without letting his slightly damp nose brush against her soft fur, the red fox whispered in the softest tone he could produce in an attempt to catch her off guard: "Could you lower your ears, please? I seriously can't study like this."

Still nothing. Why wasn't she acknowledging him? All he was trying to do was to get his notes down and move on with his day, so why was she being such a jerk to him?

Groaning a few carefully chosen words to himself in return, Nick settled back into his seat and did his best to ignore the whole existence of the prick of a lagomorph.

After a few more minutes of trying to find occasional glimpses of the whiteboard located in the very front center of the classroom both through and around the ears that were blocking about half of the text on said board, he couldn't bear it anymore. The fox leaned in and tapped the grey mass on the shoulder with an extended claw of his right front paw. Finally, he caught her attention, the rabbit turning around in her seat with a puzzled expression.

He raised his voice once more and repeated himself, but the result was a bunny still as confused as before. To both of their misfortune, that was the last straw for his nerves.

Getting embarrassed wasn't something that Nick Wilde, the slickest and most attractive vulpine in all of Zootopia, in his words of course, did too often. Then again, he'd never been witnessed shouting at a deaf and meek bunny in a classroom filled with mammals before, all of whom he knew personally. Most of them seemed to stare straight into his soul, their eyes full of spite and a bad sort of amazement. Prof. Boring, better known as professor Ferrer - an old Ferret who'd spent the last thousand and something years teaching calculus at the campus - had unsurprisingly dismissed him from the lesson after making it rather clear just who the fox had been 'arguing' with.

Nick had simply picked up his very basic looking grey hoodie and black backpack, and then swiftly escaped through the lecture hall's large double doors surrounded by a thick cloud of shame.

Unfortunately for him, that bunny had been Judy Hopps, the only deaf valedictorian in the college, maybe even in the whole city. Apparently she was the most emotional one as well, because she actually felt bad for being a burden. So, after finally having gotten a hang of the situation, she excused herself to the professor and burst after the canid, already planning her apology.

Soon after, the rabbit spotted the orange furred fox sitting at a round wooden table in the campus café, chugging down caffeine like a madmammal whilst fiddling with his phone. He was wearing a hoodie and black sweatpants, looking as comfy as one possibly could in the situation he was in. Although, even if he seemed calm and collected at first sight, she could tell he was still a bit ashamed and nervous.

Pretty much everyone _knew of_ Nick Wilde. Nearly every day there would be a new rumor about him spreading amongst the students, whether it was about a drunken folly at a party, something regarding his personal matters, or even an episode with the law enforcement. But even though everyone seemed to know a lot about him, she'd been told there were only a pawful of mammals who actually _knew_ him.

Judy knew that foxes tended to be pretty solitary by tradition, but the one she now stood in front of apparently took it into a new extreme. She started waving her paw in front of his lively emerald green eyes, which were still locked on the screen of his phone. He was hunched over the table and hadn't seemed to be paying attention to her, as he almost banged the top of his head to the ceiling - which was, for the record, very high up - when he at last did realize someone was indeed standing next to him.

Quickly calming down and readopting his, so called among other students, 'trademark smug face' back on, he turned to face her and changed his facial expression into a bewildered one, shocked by the reappearance of the bunny. He was about to ask her 'What is it?' but immediately snapped his mouth shut and scolded himself for forgetting such a basic and important fact as someone not being able to hear. Instead of talking, he rolled his paws in front of him and gave her a 'go ahead-kinda' look, indicating her to start speaking.

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened back there and I'm guessing that you didn't know that I'm deaf so it wasn't really your fault and I just came here to-", she was cut short by his front paw in the air with one finger held up. Nick opened up his backpack that was laying on the floor and pulled out a notebook and a pencil. He quickly scrabbled something on one of the pages and turned it to her, holding the notebook against his chest with his face still showcasing the half lidded eyes and mischievous grin.

All that was written on the paper was _'Don't worry 'bout it, Carrots.'_ Again, he turned the paper to face her and actually got a smile out of her this time. _'Hop back to class before you make prof. Wasteofmytime mad._ '

She let out a small huff at that. "Guess I should. Anyways, I'm sorry for getting you dismissed. Believe it or not, you weren't the first one to go through this", she added in a sincere and somewhat embarrassed tone, so captured in rambling her apology she managed to miss the over ten second long carefully inspective stare the vulpine sent her way.

Breaking out of his odd haze, the cause of which - like everything else throughout the day - he blamed on the first few hours of his day, Nick repeated the process with the stationery once more and grinned at her. _'I'm sure I wasn't with those huge flappy thingies you've got hanging off of the top of your head. As to me missing the lecture, we could meet up at the library tonight, say at 6 p.m. I can copy everything I missed from your notes then.'_

She gave him a puzzled glance, locking her lavender eyes with his emerald ones, head slightly tilted to the left, all the while still smiling, (partly because of the dumb names he used and partly because of his dumb face,) but before she could even open her mouth to respond, the fox had gotten up and was walking away from the table at a lightning fast phase. She was left there thinking 'what just happened' for a good half a minute before she ran back to catch the rest of the lecture.

 _'_ _Well, he didn't leave me much of a choice, now did he?'_ she thought to herself, slowly scuffing herself back the hallway she'd come from with occasional glances behind her in case the canid decided to show up again. _'I guess I have half an hour to spare.'_

* * *

The closest library - now that the campus' own one was closed due to renovation - was located about a mile away from her apartment. She could've taken the subway as the building stood right next to Crevasse Street's station, but ultimately chose to walk instead in order to save money, which she had very little anyways. Grabbing herself a light wind jacket, her bag, the keys and her phone, she double checked that she indeed had everything with her, and finally left.

Even with a jacket on, the cold evening breezes of Tundratown really cut their way all the way to one's bones. Judy arrived to the location of their meetup with a good fifteen minutes to spare, since she'd had to run a couple of times just to keep herself warm. Her eyes spotted an empty table near the corner of the large, modern styled library, the rest of her body following their order and taking a seat there.

A while, which to her felt like an eternity for some unexplainable reason, passed before she finally let herself check her phone. It was already 6:07 p.m. and Nick still hadn't shown up. He had been the one to tell her to meet him there, so what was taking him so long?

Not that she was too worried if he would come or not.

A few more moments passed before she caught a small glimpse of reddish fur and a darker tail swinging through the door. A slight sensation of relief washed over her. He looked around for a second, searching, before his emerald orbs locked with her lavender ones, and he began casually strolling towards her. He was wearing the same grey hoodie, but instead of sweatpants, he now had brown khakis.

 _'Well that's a weird pairing if I've ever seen one'_ , Judy noted to herself mentally.

The vulpine finally arrived to the table and greeted the bunny with a lazy wave of his paw. He then sat to the opposite side of the small metallic fitment and looked at her like he was expecting her to do something. She completely lost track of his thought process before realizing what he was waiting for.

Letting out a quick 'Oh', she swiftly turned around and grabbed her own notebook and put it on the table in front of Nick. He nodded gratefully in return, before pulling out something from his pockets. It was a stack of yellow sticky notes. He then reached for his other pocket for a pen and wrote something down.

' _Thanks.'_

"Don't worry 'bout it, Slick", she responded in what she hoped was a witty tone.

 _'_ _You literally met me less than three hours ago. During what point of that time have I been covered in liquid?'_

"Well… Never mind, Mr. Pettifogger", she groaned in defeat.

' _That's what I thought.'_ He once again pulled out his notebook and started copying the text off Judy's.

After only about two minutes of watching Nick playing a scribe, the silence became unbearably awkward and Judy decided to spark up a conversation. "Well you're talkative, huh?" she remarked, trying to sound as jokingly bored as possible.

' _You wouldn't listen to me anyway.'_ She could see him hold in a distant chuckle. Despite this, he still somehow managed to keep his smug look on.

She let out a slightly annoyed "Really?"

' _Sorry. I just had to. How long have you been deaf anyway?'_

"Just my whole life. How come?" she said in a sarcastic but confused tone.

' _Oh nothing. It's just that I've heard that mammals who lose their hearing or don't have it to begin with have problems with pronunciation and stuff, but yours is damn near perfect.'_ He barely got all of that to fit on the relatively tiny piece of paper.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks. It just took a lot of practicing as a kit. Nothing too special."

' _So, I assume you've already got your future all sorted out.'_

"Yep. The main goal is to become an attorney-", she said almost automatically before adding "-and no, it's not impossible. There have been other deaf lawyers before me and besides-"

' _I wasn't gonna doubt you, Cottontail.'_ Her ears perked up a little at the surprising comment.

"So what about you? Any lifelong dreams of your own?" she asked jokingly. He shrugged before handing out another paper square.

' _Not really. I'm just trying to get by, you know. I've always been pretty gifted in business tho, so I think that's my path to follow. Or at least for now.'_ He looked up at her and then quickly back down at the yellow stack.

' _How is it?'_ he wrote before lying the note onto the table top. His facial expression now slightly more serious.

"What? Being deaf?" she sounded as if she had been caught off guard.

' _No. Eating salad while flying. What do you think I meant?'_

"I mean I can't really tell the differences since I don't know the other half of it. I try to get by my day like everyone else, but social events can get pretty… you know." Nick could make out a slight tone of uneasiness in her voice.

' _Oh c'mon, Carrots, you're not doing half bad so far. Besides I think you're pretty cool for a bunny coming from the countryside.'_

"First of all, thanks. I guess. Second of all, how did you know where I come from?" She was grinning a little but sounded a bit shocked.

He mentally facepawed himself and looked generally unamused. _'Earth to Fluff! You're wearing a pink flannel shirt! Besides, all you cute bunnies come from some farm in Bunnyburrow. But you can call it a lucky guess if it makes you feel any better.'_

"You can't say that!" she whispered loudly.

' _What? Bunnyburrow?'_ he inquired, his other eyebrow raised and head slightly tilted.

"No! The c-word! Only bunnies can use that of other bunnies, jerk"

' _Again, when did I actually say anything? My mouth has been shut for the whole time.'_ His grin grew almost all the way to his ears.

"Dumb fox", she retorted, trying her hardest to keep the slowly building up wide smile of her own restrained.

He shrugged and seemed to let out a satisfied huff. Their eyes locked with each other for a brief moment once more, the air filled with comfort this time around. Nick then turned back to the notes in front of him and continued copying.

The bunny got lost into the depths of her own mind for who knows how long, eventually brought back into reality by something buzzing against her thigh. It was a MuzzleTime call from her parents- something they did every single week by tradition. She set the phone on the table so that it was leaning on one of the books, facing her. Before accepting the call she took in a deep breath and put on a fake smile- not that anyone could ever tell if it was fake or not.

For a second Nick was beyond confused. All that he was witnessing was her talking to someone on the phone but he didn't hear anyone respond to her. He scolded himself for forgetting the fact that she is deaf- STILL. This really was a new sort of situation to him, huh?

He leaned over the table so that he got a quick look on the screen. There were two elderly bunnies, one looked just like the rabbit physically in front of him and the other was standing next to her waving his paws around. He was light brownish and wore blue overalls, reminding Nick awfully lot of a stereotypical carrot farmer. That's all he could make out before a grey paw pushed him back into his chair with a surprising amount of force.

' _Who's that?'_ Bonnie Hopps asked using sign language. She had developed a partially concerned expression while inspecting her daughter's odd behavior but Judy couldn't help but notice the suggestive smile her mother was giving her.

"I know what you're thinking and it's nothing like that, mom. I'm just helping him out with his studies", she said- sounding as stale as possible.

"She's telling the truth Mrs. Hopps. No need to worry", came the reassuring voice from across the table, though she couldn't have known about it.

' _Turn the phone so we can see him'_ , Stu signed.

"Uhh… I'd rather not." Her parents have always been suspicious of foxes so she really didn't want them to see who she was with. Such worry-warts.

Nick had finally finished the notes and handed the violet covered notebook back to its rightful owner. She simply nodded back and started packing up her things while still maintaining eye contact with her parents. All that was on her mind right then was to get home and relax for the rest of the evening. After all, this was one of her very few study-free nights.

Bonnie said something to the other rabbit and gave him an angry/disappointed stare that only married couples can make. After some more small talk and catching up, the pair wished their daughter well and gave a final _'Keep safe, sweetheart'_ , before hanging up.

Judy got up to pack up her things since Nick had already handed over her notebook, indicating him being finished.

He was once again swifter in his actions as he had already walked out the front door before she had even stood up. She caught a glance of him stepping out into the dark wearing only what looked like a light blue T-shirt. Judy just shook her head, knowing that she was just seeing things- getting tired had that effect on her. _'No one can go out there dressed so lightly'_ , she reasoned to herself.

She was just about to step outside but finally realized that she had indeed seen his hoodie out of the corner of her eye on the round metallic table. Or had she? Sighing heavily, she walked back the way she came, passing by several tall shelves filled with all sorts of books- mostly novels from authors that she'd never heard of.

Sure enough, the grey garment lay on the white tabletop- another one of the yellow paper squares plastered right on top of it. The bunny picked it up and read it out loud- a rather odd thing to do considering that she was standing there alone and was unable to hear herself.

" _Return to the handsome fox_ ", she mumbled- although not arguing against the term handsome being used of him, her eyes half lidded as she continued, "Really?". A part of her was confused, but otherwise she was, more than relatively, flustered. Taking a look on the backside of the note she noticed a long row of numbers, which ended with a poorly sketched winky face.

* * *

 _One really shouldn't care about what could've happened if something went different. Maybe her life would've been easier, or she would've been able to become a cop- who knows? But one thing is for sure. She might've never gotten to share her life with one particular fox._


	2. Misfortune

' _What's gotten into me?'_ Nick thought to himself as he walked back to his 'apartment' in the freezing cold of the night, shocked. Thankfully he lived just around the corner so it didn't take long for him to find his way back to his place.

He let out a long, partly satisfied sigh as he arrived to his destination, taking in the cozy sight of the storage depot he spent most of his nights at.

Soon enough he was kneeling down in front of his unit, his head now at the same height as his waist was just seconds before, trying to connect his keys with the padlock on the right side of the large door that kept it closed. His paws were shaking; although not because of the chilly air that surrounded him. The low temperatures of Tundratown didn't really bother him at all after having lived in the snowy region for just about ten years.

The reason for his uncontrollable shakiness was the fact that he had (definitely more than) befriended somebunny- a freaking _bunny_ \- he barely knew at all. He let that thought sink in a bit deeper whilst still desperately trying to open the blue roll-up door, which denied his access to the comfy warmth waiting inside.

' _We letting rabbits on second dates now?'_ the little thing called 'the voice of reason' questioned him. Nick would often have arguments with it after doing some really low stuff back on the streets. Things along the lines of hustling senior citizens and such.

But this time the voice was different. It sounded teasing and the disappointed tone from all the times before was replaced with… an intrigued one?

"Oh shut up, I'm trying to think here. Besides I was just being nice. She would've frozen in that joke of a jacket of hers", Nick mumbled back.

' _Alright, I'll give you that one. But care to explain that note then?'_

Seconds after seconds passed, Nick scrambling through his brain for a proper answer.

He never found one.

' _That's what I thought, Slick'._

"I don't recall my dating life ever becoming your business", 'Slick' fired back.

' _Oh don't be like that. I'm only here to help you out.'_

 _'I've got a good feeling about this one.'_

"What's that supposed t-"

He was interrupted when he felt the snow cover under his back paw slip and his whole body jerk in an attempt to regain balance- eventually losing the fight to gravity. The fox fell forward, his muzzle hitting something before the rest of his body slammed with the slippery ice bottom, which was hiding under the clean snow. The key to the padlock flew from his paw and landed about eight feet from him before sliding an extra two for extra measure. It was quickly covered under a new layer of snow, making it almost impossible to notice.

Nick found himself trying to stand up after laying still on the ground for a good half a minute, groaning in bitter defeat. However, he didn't make it far up before he was pulled right back down on his stomach. He finally opened up his eyes to examine what exactly was going on.

"Oh give me a break!" he shouted at no one in particular, understandably sounding very frustrated.

His wet, black nose had touched the metallic padlock and was now frozen against it. He carefully rose to his knees, keeping his head low. Multiple delicate yanks, and even more minutes spent trying to locate the key, later, he - much against his will - gave up.

Having lived there for far too long, the vulpine knew that no one would show until the next morning- maybe not even then, since this was a rather secluded place.

Nick grabbed his phone - an old Pawkia with a crappy touchscreen - from the left pocket of his khakis, entered his very secure password of four digits (1234) and made his way through the long list of contacts. Despite having very few actual friends, he still knew most of the mammals living in Zootopia.

Finally finding the name he was searching for, Nick selected the 'Call' option multiple times before the device registered his pawpad touching the screen. He brought the phone right next to his left ear, holding his right one with his free paw in an attempt to block out the howling of the wind.

After two or three drawn out 'beeps', the fox heard his acquaintance pick up.

"Whaddup man?" a disturbingly deep voice greeted, surrounded by distant shouting and sounds of things breaking- must've been a bar fight or something.

"Yo, can you come and help a brother out? I kinda had an accident."

"Not this crap again. How the fuck do you even lock ya ass out like that, Nick? This the fourth time, right?" The mammal on the other end was clearly stifling a hearty laugh.

"Doesn't matter dude! Are you coming or not? I'm getting cold out he-". Despite him having developed a winter coat because of his long stay in Tundratown, he couldn't bare the chilly air for too long.

"Shit man, I'm on my way, no need to get all weepy 'bout it", the gravelly voice answered swiftly before Nick could finish.

There was a long frustrated but relieved sigh followed up with "A'ight, thanks, Finn. See you in a bit." He hung up before his buddy had the chance to answer.

He was just about to shove his phone back into his pocket when he felt it vibrate twice in his paw. He took a very brief look at the screen, which showed a notification of two new messages from an unknown number.

' _Let's deal with that later'_ , the voice inside of his head returned, and Nick put his phone away.

* * *

Nearly twenty minutes later the all too familiar and beat up looking van pulled up to the parking lot right next to the storage depot- the ground almost shaking from the loud music bursting out from the insides of the vehicle. The questionable art on its side reminded Nick of all the great things the three of them had gone through together- not that he ever wanted to relive any of them.

The door slammed open, and out jumped an extremely small sized, brownish-gold coloured fennec fox with ears seemingly larger than his actual head. Like always, he was wearing a black bowling shirt, which had a thick red stripe on its right side, and olive shorts.

Nick always put on his regular smirk in the presence of his closest friend; this time being no exception.

"D-do you ever wash tho-those?" Nick joked, holding in a chuckle. His teeth clanked together from the long stay outside as he spoke.

Finnick grunted and started casually walking towards the now freezing red fox. "Oh look who's talking. You remember that green Hawaiian shirt of yours? Three years without washing it and you kept it on almost every single damn day", he witted back in a tone that could only be described as 'I'm-being-really-cocky-to-my-pal-here-cuz-he-knows-that-I-care-about-him'-y.

The two hadn't really seen each other after Nick left for the College of southern Tundratown, which everyone simply called by the same name as the reason it was so often picked, just like in the red fox's case- COST.

Although going to COST was rather cheap - at least when compared to the other alternatives - it really wasn't that much worse. Actually the biggest, and maybe the only, difference was that the campus itself was in a rather bad shape. This didn't bother him that much as he had gotten used to living in a poor neighborhood as a kit.

And as long as Nick had a chance of getting himself a degree, he would ignore all the difficulties he would face in the process of doing so.

"Here's a can", Finnick said- now in his normal flat tone, and threw a medium sized beer to the bent down fox. "Get ya fluffy ass up 'n' help me find the key."

"Yes, m-ma'am", Nick lazily saluted and caught the can of beer using both of his paws, still unable to turn his head towards his friend. The beverage was lukewarm, maybe a little below room temperature.

He opened the can and started pouring the liquid inside onto his nose. He almost threw up when the strong stench of rotten eggs made its way inside of his nostrils.

"How o-old is this Finn?" he asked, gasping for air with watery eyes.

"Hell do I know man, I don't keep track. But based on the smell I'd say somewhere 'round six to seven months", he replied grumpily, lightly kicking the snow on Nick's right side in order to feel or see the small object he was searching for.

There was another audible gag followed up with a loud gasp.

"Whe-where did you even find this?" Nick asked, genuinely curious, but then changed his mind. "Never mind, I d-don't want to know".

After what felt like an eternity of torture, the larger fox got up and cleaned his whole muzzle using the white snow on the ground. Both of the two now looking for the key, Finnick turned to face the other mammal, and changed the subject.

"Why you still living in this shitty storage anyways, Nick?"

"Why are you living in that van of yours?" the larger fox fired back without looking at him.

"You already know my reasons."

"And you know mine, Finn. Going to college isn't exactly free, and I want to have some spare cash for a rainy day. Besides, I think that my-", he held up his paws and made quote signs, "'nest' is more than satisfying".

A moment of silence fell between the pair- the only sound being Nick's teeth repeatedly clanking together.

"Yo, found it!" Finnick shouted out, picking up the metallic object before strolling to the padlock. He opened it in the matter of moments, having no problems whatsoever doing so.

Nick grunted and rolled his eyes in a large circle motion as he rolled the door up so that they could enter.

The storage unit was designed to hold mainly polar bear sized things in it, so there was no shortage of room. The 'apartment' had a portable radiator heater on its both sides and a large cabinet on the back wall. The walls were painted white, although some of the paint had been scraped off by the cold, revealing the dull grey concrete under the thin layer.

Nick didn't own a bed. He thought they were too uncomfortable not to even mention expensive. Instead he had a very big, dark purple, velvet covered bean bag chair. He slept on it like a little kit, rolled tightly into himself with his tail covering most of his mass as if it was a blanket. Only a few selected mammals knew about this, Finn being one of them.

Surprisingly enough the storage had a single outlet, which had been installed just in case. This allowed Nick to have a microwave, which he barely ever used. He much preferred going to a couple cheap diners around town to achieve his daily nutrition income.

"Hmpf. More than satisfying, my ass. You don't even have a bathroom of your own."

Nick emptied his pockets and threw all of his things inside the wooden cabinet's lowest drawer and shut it. He then reached up and opened the second one, pulled out a black and white striped sweater, put it on and turned to face the door.

"Speaking of which", he said matter-of-factly and left for the toilet located in the office building. The owner of the business, an old reindeer, was a close friend of Nick's parents back in the day, and was more than happy to help him out- as long as the fox didn't cause any trouble. And paid a little extra.

As the door closed once again, Finnick jumped onto the bean bag chair. He browsed through the room for a while, mainly trying to figure out something to do while his buddy was gone.

His giant ears picked up a very muffled buzzing sound originate from the lowest drawer. He got back to his feet and made his way to the cabinet.

Slowly pulling on the brass handle attached to the wooden surface, he opened the drawer slightly with an ear-piercing creak. A bright light shined inside.

Seconds after he was holding Nick's Pawkia in his tiny paws.

"Three new messages, huh? If only I knew the password", he chuckled to himself, the raspy voice filling the storage unit.


	3. It's a date, then!

' _Dumb fox. I don't even need this thing'_ , was all that Judy could gather together from all the confusing thoughts floating around in her mind.

She left through the front door of the library in a rush- mainly to get some fresh air as fast as possible. She had to think clearly about what had just happened, and what might happen in the future. This would've been impossible in the stale and distressing atmosphere inside the building.

Judy was the type of mammal that always preferred to have a plan ready. Much unlike the rest of her huge family, she didn't just want to run in guns blazing, and see what life had to offer. Being deaf for her whole life had taught her to overcome problems and achieve her goals through hard work and patience.

This is why she was _completely_ lost in situations such as this one.

The cloudless and snowfall free evening was almost at its darkest, the wind blowing much stronger than before she had arrived. The grey bunny checked the time from her phone, and was taken aback- to say at least- by the four numbers shown on the screen. Their 'meetup' had lasted over an hour and a half, which was much longer than it had felt to Judy.

She carefully ambled down the slippery stone stairs, while putting her phone back into the pocket of her blue jeans and double-checking if she had everything with her. Once done, she picked up her pace- her practical but stylish bag in one paw and Nick's hoodie in the other.

As soon as Judy left the cover provided by the large-scaled building now behind her, she realized why he had given her the grey piece of clothing in the first place. The wind made it feel like it was under hell-is-currently-freezing degrees.

The persistent and still puzzled rabbit didn't stop though- as to prove herself that she didn't need the fox's help.

However the wind soon beat her pride and Judy was forced to resort to the only option at paw- quite literally. She stopped for a moment, laid her bag on the icy asphalt beneath her lengthy back paws, and quickly pulled the oversized cloth over her head- all the while cursing her useless 'wind' jacket.

The soft woolen textile covering the insides of the hoodie immediately welcomed the small mammal into its warm and comfortable embrace. She received a couple of odd glances from the few mammals that were still wandering around town- not that they could be blamed. She looked like she was wearing a grey tent.

As Judy was picking her bag back up, something clicked in her head, and she regained her usual organized state of mind.

' _Was he seriously hitting on me?'_ was the first thought that managed to pop up.

' _Noooo, that's ridiculous. I'm a bunny after all.'_

' _But does he really care about that? I mean it clearly can't bother him too much since he was the one who made the first move.'_

' _Dumb bunny! It wouldn't work out anyways. Just think of what your family would say- not mentioning the whole society.'_

Interspecies relationships were sort of taboo in Zootopia, although there were no legal restrictions on marriages between any type of mammals- a little fact among many others that she happened to know of because she's a Law student. Even predator-prey-friendships were frowned upon by many, so what would mammals think of an actual relationship between natural enemies.

' _There's no point in even trying.'_

' _Although he was nice enough. And quite interesting. And really sweet. And kind of good looking in a way.'_

After about fifteen to twenty more minutes, Judy found herself standing in front of the tall building that functioned nowadays as a student dormitory. It wasn't the classiest place to stay at, but since she had 275 siblings, Judy's parents couldn't really afford helping her out by paying the rent for her. That's why the rabbit worked weekends at a local convenience store- with a low paycheck of course.

She entered the buildings narrow hallway and walked over to the elevator only to find out it was out of order. A long, drawn-out sigh could be heard echoing through the stairway before the bunny practically started dragging herself up the stairs. Thankfully she didn't have to do any climbing since the dormitory was built for mammals slightly smaller than her. Then again, this just added to the cramped feeling the tight rooms gave her.

Judy already felt remarkably tired after her long day, and really didn't feel like going through any more physical activities. But she had no choice, and in about 5 minutes she had made it to her floor- 24 that is.

' _Never again'_ , she thought to herself while gasping for air and huffing fiercely. Judy was in a reasonably good shape, even though she spent most of her time reading, thanks to her generally healthy habits. Still, after the day she had gone through, it was more than understandable for any mammal, except for sloths, to feel completely exhausted.

The door opened with a creak- not that she could tell. Her room was very small- only around 10 feet in width and 18 in length, barely spacious enough to fit everything necessary in it. Her setup was rather simple: a white table in the back right corner- right next to the window that provided no real use as there was an even taller building blocking the sun and the view, a wooden framed bed on the table's left side and a big cabinet, mostly for clothes and such, right to the rabbit's left as she entered. The room had a tiny kitchen attached to it as well as a bathroom, both of the doorways located on the right wall with the kitchen's entryway being a simple opening instead of a functioning door.

She made sure the door was locked, threw her bag on to her bed, and hurriedly started undressing- tossing the clothes on to the bed as well, as she was desperate for a hot shower at this point.

After she had gotten her much needed feeling of cleanness, and started boiling some water for her nightly cup of tea, Judy made her way to lie on her bed, now wearing her usual pajama pants and tank top combo.

However, one of the pieces of clothing underneath hear had a distinct scent on it, which reminded her that there was still something she had to take care of before she could properly relax.

The bunny got up and slowly walked back into the kitchen with her phone in her paws. After realizing that she would need the piece of yellow paper the fox left her, finishing the process of making tea, and eventually finding the aforementioned piece of paper, Judy sat down at her table- the cup of tea, Nick's little note and her phone in front of her.

' _Do I dare?'_ she asked herself, mentally preparing for what was to come.

Judy had barely any experience in dating- only having been with a couple of other bunnies during her late high school years. When none of her attempts in a relationship had worked out, she decided to postpone any further tries until she was in college. However she found herself being way too busy studying to even think about other fields of life. And even though she was a bunny, she had never done any 'physical' kind of stuff with her past dates.

This was partly because she had always been very self-conscious about her deafness, thinking that males being interested in her in the long run was pretty much impossible.

' _Screw it. What do I have to lose anyway?'_

She was holding her phone in front of her with both of her paws, typing the row of numbers into the 'Add Contact' section, finishing by naming said contact as 'Fox', as she wasn't the most creative mammal.

A couple of deep breaths later she had mustered just enough courage to start 'investigating' into the flirty red fox. Thinking through all the options available, Judy decided to take a relatively passive approach in order to sort of check the waters first.

 _*Was that your way of asking a girl on a date?*_

 _*Or were you just being a dumb fox as usual?*_

After sending both of the messages, she dropped the mobile device on the table and hopped back to her bed, nearly causing her now half full cup of tea to fall over the edge. The all too excited bunny face planted on one of her two soft pillows and screamed, or more like squeaked, into it as loud as she could to let out some steam.

' _What's going on with me?'_

On normal nights she would be either, unsurprisingly, studying, or checking out the latest viral videos on MewTube. The website was kind of odd, since for some reason the majority of the clips she saw there involved small kittens. The other favored genres were video games and music, one of which had never sparked any interest in her, while the other one was impossible for her to enjoy.

Judy calmed herself down and finished her warm tea with a single gulp. Now that her body was done with the tingly excitement, the fatigue of the day made its return, forcing the bunny to go through the rest of her evening routines half-consciously before falling, yet again, on her bed.

She would've fallen asleep right then and there if it wasn't for the feeling of uneasiness that washed over her as soon as she hit the sheets and cushions.

The phone was barely in her sight in the dark room. It was laying upside down on the tabletop, where she left it. She knew that Nick hadn't answered yet. Still she felt some uncontrollable urge to check again and again and again. It was almost like the forbidden fruit. After she had given in to the demanding feeling inside of her, more than five times in ten minutes, Judy got frustrated and most of all anxious.

' _He should've at least seen the texts at this point'_.

' _I hope he's just busy, and not frozen to death in some ditch.'_

An unpleasant thought passed Judy's mind and made her heart skip a beat.

' _What if he was just playing with me?'_

She quickly reasoned to herself that she was just being silly, and this could have not been the case, since she still had his hoodie, which meant that the fox would have to confront her sometime in the future.

The uneasiness was getting unbearable. In her exhausted to maximum state of mind, she made the decision to get an answer out of Nick before she would fall asleep- no matter how.

Not realizing it at first, she was already holding her phone, which showed the text conversation with the contact 'Fox', in front of her. The rabbit sat there for a few minutes pondering on what to say. Her final solution was short and simple, yet so meaningful.

' _;)'_

Judy just sat there waiting. She didn't want to seem desperate by sending anything else. But she was, and she knew it.

Seconds felt like minutes as she just stared at the grey check mark, which meant that the other mammal hadn't seen the latest text, right next to the winky face she had just sent. Her miserable moment was cut short as the check mark changed color to blue. He had finally noticed her messages.

She was beyond relieved when a bubble with three blinking dots appeared on the left side of the screen. Soon she would get her answer.

* * *

Finnick was sitting on the dark purple bean bag chair with a huge smile on his face and Nick's phone in his paws. He had wanted Nick to go on a date since he broke up with his latest girlfriend over a year ago. Nick never told him anything more specific, but the fennec fox could tell that the breakup with the vixen left him wounded- maybe even scarred.

So as Nick's 'brother from another mother', or however the kits say it these days, he wanted to heal those wounds, even if it meant getting involved into the red fox's personal life.

Glancing through the messages, Finnick figured that the vixen, or so he thought, had met Nick earlier today. He tried to act like Nick so he wouldn't raise any suspicions. This was the perfect opportunity to help out his friend, and he really didn't want to screw up.

However he didn't have much time as he knew that said friend was shortly going to return from his trip to the toilet, and Finnick didn't fancy getting caught red-handed. He would let Nick know eventually, but the two of them still had the whole night and a few beers to go through.

He quickly started typing, the half functioning touch screen slowing him down remarkably.

 _*What do you think I was doing, beautiful? ;)*_

 _*Meet you at Frosty's at 8 p.m. next Friday. Wear something warm.*_

There was a long pause before the other mammal started typing her response. Finnick just assumed that she was checking her calendar or something similar.

 _*You're going to have to try harder than that.*_

Finnick could faintly make out light pawsteps coming from outside with his giant ears. He viciously started tapping the letters on the screen in order to get a convincing response back to the 'vixen' before Nick would enter the room.

Judy beat him to it before he was even halfway through.

 _*But I'll cut you some slack this time, since you practically saved me from becoming a bunnysicle.*_

Finnick's eyes widened all the way to the maximum degree.

' _Bunny?'_ was the thought that summarized his confusion.

He managed to put the Pawkia back to the drawer just the way it was, when he had grabbed it in the first place, and jump back on the seat before the blue door rolled up and Nick entered the space. The larger fox was holding two cans of cheap beer, which he brought from outside since he didn't have a fridge. He didn't seem to pay any attention to Finnick's uneasiness, just threw him one of the cans, and sat next to him.

Nick was the first one to break the silence.

"Anyone text me while I was gone?" he asked in a flat and calm tone.

Finnick still had no idea how to react to what had just happened. Was he supposed to feel guilty? Dread? Supportive? He just set up an interspecies date for his best friend, who had hit on some bunny. But right then he just snapped out of his trance, and gave his friend an untruthful answer.

The fennec fox forced himself to sound normal. "Nah, man. Why?"

"I'm just in the middle of something right now."

"Oh c'mon, bro! You can tell Uncle Finn all 'bout it." His deep voice sounded unsure, teasing and calming at the same time. Nick gave the mammal on his side a skeptical look before forming the words floating in his head into an audible sentence.

"It's just that I… met this deaf chick today, and I'm kinda into her. But I don't know if I should go for it or not."

Both of the foxes were quiet for a minute, looking far into nothingness.

"Deafness shouldn't be a problem", Finnick said abruptly and turned to face his friend, and then continued, "As long as you like the girl I say go for it". Not realizing it, he had made a subconscious decision to be there for his pal, just like he always had been- no matter how weird the situation was.

Nick simply nodded, deep in thought, unable to come out with the whole story. The two of them just sipped on their drinks, sharing the same chair in total silence.

Until.

"She's a bunny, Finn."


	4. A race against the clock

"She's a bunny, Finn."

Another drawn out silence conquered the space around them.

"Umm… That mixes things up, I guess", the fennec fox was trying his hardest to act as if he hadn't known about this fact earlier.

Nick stood up, took a couple steps forward, and covered his eyes with his paws- looking like he was about to press his palms through the sockets. The big, fluffy, nearly brown tail hung limp, and brushed to the cold floor. He was clearly upset, which showed in his voice as well.

"I know, dude. This isn't normal, and I have no idea how to handle any of it".

The deep voice switched from somewhat forced shock into a supportive but an unsure one as he spoke, "Hey, we already went over this. If you really do like her, then I see no problem here".

"You really think so?" he sounded very suspicious.

Finnick took a sip from his drink and made an affirmative sound.

"But it's not normal." Nick nearly shouted and then turned to face the smaller fox. "Something inside of me is screaming for me to ask her out, but every other part of my body is trying to prevent this going any further".

Finnick sighed knowing he would have to come clean any minute now. He figured that getting it out of the way as soon as possible was the safest option. Nick didn't really like it when other mammals intruded into his personal life, even if the intruder was his best friend. Plus he was already pissed off, so the situation couldn't have gotten much worse.

"You're right. It ain't normal. But there sure ain't nothing wrong with it either".

"Are you even listening to me? I'm a fox and she's a damn bunny! Believe me, I know how the society is, and there's no way something like that could ever wo-"

"Yo, yo, yo, shut up. Look, I'll probably have to chug a gallon of bleach after saying this, but love knows no limits. You know you have a thing for her, and-", he stopped, got up from the bean bag chair, and walked past Nick over to the door- all the while holding up his right paw, to indicate that he wasn't finished. Now holding the roll-up door open so that he could fit under the gap, he continued. "I happen to know for a fact that she has a thing of her own for you".

Nick spread his arms wide in confusion, and wondered what Finnick was talking about. Then he figured it out.

'I need to change my password', he thought to himself, disappointed in both Finnick and his unbelievable laziness.

His head was a mess of anger and numerous other emotions. He could barely make out the next words that his friend gave him.

"Just check your phone and talk to her, but do me a favor and don't cancel that date. It's about damn time you moved on". The tiny fennec stepped outside, but still held the door open so he could maintain eye contact with the larger fox. "I'm done being your relationship counselor for the night. You know where to find me if you need me".

The door slammed shut with a loud bang. Nick was still in the same pose as before, looking hurt and betrayed. He turned his head to face the cabinet, but was too scared to walk over and open the drawer. He didn't want to imagine what the text conversation said. Hell, he didn't even completely know what he wanted it say.

However, there was no way he would delay something this important. He had to sort out his feelings, but most of all he was burning up from the inside for not knowing how Judy felt.

But even though he wanted to deal with the situation right away, the voice inside of him reasoned against it. He didn't want to say anything he would regret, which was more than possible taken his current mental state. The wisest option was to leave all of this for tomorrow.

So he curled up on to the velvet covered bean bag chair, and slept over it in an unsuccessful attempt to achieve any rest.

* * *

Judy woke up at 6:15 a.m. at the bright light her alarm engendered, feeling extremely tired. Her parents had gotten the cursed thing for her as a birthday present back when she was 18. It was one of those very modern looking, plate shaped, white digital clocks, which generated nearly blinding light when the alarm went off.

She groaned in exasperation, rolled to her side, and instinctively pressed the small round button to shut the light. Rolling back to her back, she yawned and shut her eyes.

' _Just one more minute and then I'll get up.'_

Last night was somewhat of a blur. She had fallen asleep after two long hours of rolling around in her bed. Judy had felt so giddy after everything that happened last night that her head was overflowing with all kinds of sentiments.

Judy had always been a morning mammal, like most rabbits were. Yet she didn't have the strength to get up. She was too comfortable under the warm blanket to move a single muscle. Her arms were clutching onto something soft, something that had never been there before. This didn't bother her enough to check what she was holding in her paws.

' _Alright maybe two.'_

She was a fool for thinking she would stay awake longer than thirty seconds.

The next time her eyelids unfolded and revealed the drained amethyst eyes beneath, which happened naturally this time around, it was already 7:27 a.m. At the realization of what was going on, the bunny widened her eyes, sat up and lightly tugged on her ears to refresh the rest of her tiny frame.

' _Oh sweet cheese and crackers, I'm going to be late.'_

Her first lecture of the day would begin in approximately thirty minutes, and it took her about that long to make her way there. To make matters worse, nearly every professor at COST wouldn't let any students in after the tardy bell rang. It was a tradition of some sort from the old times, when the college was one of the most popular and respected ones in the whole of Zootopia.

She pulled the covers off of her and jumped out of her bed. Something fell from her lap and brushed against her leg as she did this. Judy was a bit surprised, but in too big of a hurry to care much. She glanced over her shoulder while walking to her cabinet. Her already panicked demeanor only got worse when she witnessed Nick's hoodie sitting on the floor. There were a few darker spots on it, all right next to each other.

' _Wow. Not even one day in and I'm already drooling all over him- at least practically.'_

Judy found herself staring, partially smiling, for much too long considering how little time she had. She snapped herself out of her trance, and just under a minute later she was all dressed up in some random clothes she had picked in the dark. Dark grey skinny jeans, the same white tank top she was already wearing, and the COST's very own blue and black college shirt, which was certainly way above her size. It wasn't the most fashionable look, but it would have to do.

' _God, I'm such a creep!'_ she thought, taking a last look at the fluffy piece of clothing next to her bunk.

After packing up all of her things into her bag, she walked over to the table and picked up her phone. The digital clock switched from 7:31 to 7:32. She was running out of time. Knowing that at this point she wouldn't make it by foot nor wait for a bus, she sought through the contacts until she ended up on one of her best friends' number, and ran out the door.

She saw a sheet of paper taped on the doors of the elevator and remembered she would need to take the stairs. Pacing down the steps in a rapid rhythm, she texted the aforementioned friend, who she knew would always be fiddling with his mobile device anyway- no matter what time it was.

 _*Ben, you anywhere near my place? I need a ride to COST rn*_

A bubble filled with letters appeared on the bottom left of the screen only seconds after.

 _*Lucky you, I've got a late morning AND I'm at Mike's place. I'll be there in less than 5*_

Her phone could barely squeeze into the tight left pocket of her jeans. She almost stumbled and fell, while trying to jam it in, so she made the conclusion of considerably calming herself, and generally slowing, down. Missing out on a single Law lecture wasn't a problem worth of dying over. Besides it would still be a few minutes until her ride would arrive.

Now walking and thinking properly, she finally picked up on the fact that she hadn't taken a shower. This wouldn't usually matter much, since her scent was relatively light compared to other mammals'. However in this case it was the other scent stuck on her fur that worried her.

The hoodie must've left some of Nick's musky smell on her, which wasn't a stunner considering just how she had cuddled with it while unconscious.

The thought of anyone realizing this flustered her, and made her cheeks turn deep red under the grey fur. Judy had already come to terms with giving her and Nick a try, but she was still rather baffled by everything that their _potential_ relationship would include. Before passing out the night before, she had even imagined how to introduce him to her fox-fearing parents. A weird thing to think of, especially of a male she had met the same day.

She had subconsciously made her way down to the ground level. The air felt extremely chilly after the cloudless night. She peeked around the corner to check if Clawhauser was waiting for her in the small parking area next to the building. Sure enough Judy saw an old yellow convertible waiting across the street. She didn't so much as think to question how he could've gotten there so fast, having long ago understood how quick the cheetah could be when needed.

The mammal inside the vehicle, no other than the chubby and ever-so-joyful Benjamin Clawhauser, rolled down the window and waved at her. She hurried over, got into the passenger seat and tucked in her seatbelt. The entire car shook fiercely as the engine purred to life.

He took his phone from his jacket's right pocket, unlocking it and opening up an app, all the while still concentrating on the slippery street. She saw him holding the device in front of his mouth and speak into it. He then turned to face her for a second to show her the phone and give her the friendliest and happiest smile a mammal could ever make.

The app, called "Bark2Text", was apparently used to turn speech into text. The capitalized letters in a white circle in the middle of the otherwise neon blue screen formed a sentence.

 _*So what's the oh case song*_

Judy looked confused before she grasped on the realization of what her fat friend was attempting to ask her. The original words that left the feline's mouth ('So, what's the occasion?') must've been muffled by the vicious hum coming from the engine. Again, not that she could tell without gathering together the obvious facts of the situation.

"Believe it or not, I overslept!" she used a louder voice than usual, which she supposed was necessary in order to make Clawhauser able to hear anything coming out of her mouth, based on the tremor of the whole car.

The phone went back to the front of the cheetah's muzzle and he spoke into it again before holding it steady-handedly so Judy could read what he had said. He didn't know any sign, so they usually interacted by texting. Unsurprisingly this was pretty much impossible while driving, which meant that "Bark2Text" was the new way to go when face-to-face.

The whole conversation was filled with gaps when either Clawhauser would be talking into the phone, or the bunny would be trying to make out the meaning behind the garbled sentences.

 _*No away that's nut thing like you what happened*_

"Umm… I guess I just stayed up for too long last night." Judy was uncertain of how much to share with her friend. She knew that the feline would never share anything this important with anyone else- knowingly. There had been more than a few times in the past when his blabby mouth had let out some really embarrassing things about her and other mammals. Just last week he had accidentally announced one of their fellow students' sexual orientation. Needless to say, said student wasn't too happy with this.

Considering the risks, she decided to play it safe, but still share some of the messy emotional weight on her shoulders with him.

 _*That's it question mark*_ Ben's eyebrows were a tiny bit raised.

Judy turned her gaze forward to the snow on the hood and tried to find a way to form the thoughts blowing around in her head into an unrevealing but satisfying answer. "Well not really. I umm… might've… kind of… _beenbusybeingaskedoutonFriday_ ".

She hoped that by being quiet and quick enough, she would avoid any follow up questions on the subject. However judging by the dazed expression on her friend's face, he hadn't missed a single syllable.

 _*O m goodness Judy hops u devil you were making out weren't Jew*_

"No! It was nothing like that! We were texting!" The embarrassed rabbit was nearly curled into her seat and squeaked out defenses in an attempt to create a bubble of comfort and protection around her. This had always been a way she dealt with very uncomfortable situations if she was with one of her siblings or good friends.

 _*How do u ex plain the smell on you den*_

Judy sniffed the air and wondered if Nick's scent was really that obvious. She tried to come up with an excuse since she didn't want to explain everything that happened the day before. Not coming up with a single solid explanation, the only option was to dodge the question and change the subject.

"Just concentrate on driving and hurry up, you jerk! Professor Mells, will electrocute me, burn my body, and drown the ashes in the ocean if I miss her lecture", she said blushing and slightly irritated by the amused look on the cheetah's face.

 _*So who is the lucky bunny*_

A gulp. She had to play this cool if she wanted to keep her dignity. The word was bound to spread if Ben had the slightest idea of what was going on. Every student in the whole Zootopia would hear about it. Almost every single mammal in the city would think of her as an unnatural freak, if she screwed up now.

Then again if this _thing_ would really get serious, it would go public at some point anyways. But now was not the time for that to happen.

"Oh, you wouldn't know him anyways. Just one bunny from the Burrows who my parents decided to pair with me. Turns out he's a really nice guy so I'm going to give him a chance". She couldn't tell if her nervousness showed in her voice, but Clawhauser didn't seem to suspect a thing.

 _*Good 4 u*_

She let out a mumbled "Thanks, Ben" right before they turned at an intersection and pulled into the empty yard of the boxy building now in front of them. He stopped as close to the exit and repeated the action, he had been doing for the whole discussion, once more. Judy was already about to hop out of the vehicle so he tapped her on the shoulder with one of his dull claws.

The rabbit turned around and hurriedly read the screen that didn't say anything especially important.

 _*We still have in lunch or will you bee to busy getting it on with your boyfriend question mark*_ He was giving her the biggest grin in the history, slightly teasing but still the same friendly and comforting one she was used to see painted on the feline's face. It reminded her of a certain fox, though not even close on the smug level.

"Of course we are- same place as always. And please shut up!" she shouted as she jogged off into the direction of the front entrance. She checked her phone's clock and immediately picked up her pace. She only had a few brief moments to make it to the lecture hall on the third floor.

Unfortunately for her it apparently took her a few brief moments and some more. The three sets of stairs made her huff and puff as if she had ran miles. Not stopping, she continued to the long hallway that led to her destination.

Judy saw that the door was still open. But that was before a hoof grabbed the handle and pulled it shut from the other side. She tried to shout for the mammal to hold it for her, but her small lungs were already struggling hard enough for air.

' _You've got to be kidding me!'_


	5. Fatty delicacies

There was a repetitive, loud banging noise caused by a certain small paw hitting the thin, metallic roll-up door, which made Nick's ears perk up and twitch instantaneously. He had always been a late sleeper, when he had the chance: no matter how early he went to 'bed', he never woke up before 9 a.m.

Thankfully his first lecture of the day had been cancelled due to their professor catching the flue yesterday evening, which meant that he didn't have another one until noon. This gave him some much needed extra rest- although his body had been too emotionally wrecked by the events of the previous eighteen hours to achieve any.

Needless to say, he didn't really take anyone, who awoke him from his slumber too early, fondly, and the mammal on the other side of the door had done just that. After some angry mumbling and unnaturally drawn out yawning, he got up and flatly let out an approval for his friend to come in, all the while trying to get rid of the worse than usual morning stiffness by stretching out his whole sleek frame. He didn't have to dress up, since he always slept with his clothes on- his 'apartment' wasn't exactly the warmest nor the most private place in the world.

"It's open, Finn."

The fennec fox entered the dark room, and quickly shut the door to keep the already little amount of warm air inside the storage space. He then turned to face Nick, his whole stance looking as tired, maybe even more so than the larger fox's.

Finnick scuffed his way next to the bean bag chair and started looking for something. "Sorry, Miss Sleeping Beauty, but I ain't leavin' without my money", came the low and deep voice that claimed the whole room.

"Dude, it's only like 8 a.m. Why are you even up this early?" He was honestly surprised (and annoyed) by the fact that his lazy going friend was already up and walking at this hour. Back on the streets Nick always used to be the first one to wake up, and get them both some coffee from a cheap, nearby kiosk. Those days are now long gone though: the two had dropped hustling after moving closer to COST from Savanna Central. However they would still use their crafty minds and seasoned skills in a desperate need for a quick buck.

Finnick partially lifted the chair off the ground, revealing the black, fake leather wallet underneath. Nick could see a dim flash of relief in the fennec's eyes before it was replaced by heavy weariness. The smaller fox picked up the item, and trudged towards the exit, finally opening his mouth to answer his bud.

"Well, while you've been cramming in college and hittin' on bunnies, I've gotten myself a job- an honest job".

Nick's facial expression was a mix between suspicion and hope. He couldn't believe that Finnick, out of all mammals, would ever do any sort of fair work out of free will. This is why he questioned him some more. "Care to share any details, mister Grumpy?"

The smaller fox stopped at the door and gave his friend a frustrated glance. "No time. I've got a load to pick up by nine".

"Finn, don't tell me it's drugs", Nick said in a concerned, rather fatherly manner as he prepared himself for the upcoming disappointment.

There was a quiet "hmpf". The fennec shook his head and turned his own eyes away from Nick's. The red fox read him like an open book though, having spent almost half of his life with the mammal had that effect. Finnick was clearly ashamed, hurt and somewhat amused, but Nick could only guess why.

Finnick seemed to hesitate on his answer, but managed to spit out an over exaggerated "I wish!" He then followed up with a sarcasm filled retort. "And thanks for trustin' me by the way", he said as he rolled up the door to leave.

The larger one of the two wasn't having any of this. Having any involvement with drugs would definitely be a new low, and judging by his friend's behavior, Finnick had hit it. Understandably Nick was more than doubtful, which made him want to investigate further into this 'load'. "Then let me come with you".

The other fox stopped and turned his head just the amount that the two made eye contact. "Why?"

The smug grin and half lidded eyes made their first appearance of the day as Nick walked over to the wooden cabinet for his essential things, which consisted of his keys, phone, wallet and shades. "Well I have plenty of free time before I need to get back to-", he put his paws in the air and made little air quotes, "'cramming in college and hittin' on bunnies', and it's not like I could get any sleep now that I'm already up". He started slowly taking small steps towards his friend and changed his look into a more sincere one. "Besides, I still need your counseling or whatever you wanna call it".

Another barely distinct "hmpf" left the fennec and his gaze turned to the ground. "Alright, but just… promise not to laugh".

Nick looked confused, but didn't want to push the matter too much. He was pleased enough with the current outcome. The door rolled all the way up, and then all the way back down, eliciting an annoying rattling sound, as the two foxes left the room and headed for Finnick's van.

The vehicle's doors slammed shut, and Finnick started the engine. An event which took more than a few tries and a lot of swearing. Nick couldn't help but let out an audible chuckle every time he saw the wooden blocks attached to the pedals on the driver's side. Finnick just glared at him for a short while as he maneuvered through the parking lot and pulled out onto the nearest lane. This specific part of town didn't have too much of traffic, but the narrow streets made it difficult to overtake anyone. To put it shortly, driving there was more pleasant than most other places in Zootopia, unless you came across a particularly lazy Sunday driver. And that they did.

The small car in front of them must've had an elderly koala teach a sloth how to drive. Finnick mumbled something obscure under his breath and honked a couple of times with no effect whatsoever: the occupants of the vehicle were apparently deaf as well. They must've been going under 20 miles per hour on a 30 mph zone. Eventually Finnick gave up, let out a groan of frustration and whacked his head on the steering wheel.

Nick was amused by the whole situation, but again didn't want to cross the line by rubbing it in. He knew how his friend got when he lost his temper: the one and only time the red fox had gone too far had him hospitalized for two days. That was the most expensive fun he's had on someone else's expense- well on his own in this case.

Finnick raised his head back up after a couple of seconds of wallowing and focused on the road. He then tried to calm himself down, and looked at Nick out of the corner of his eye. "So, wanna discuss your diet?" he started unusually reassuringly.

Just like that the grin on Nick's face changed into a more serious, slight frown. "Har har, have I ever mentioned how funny you are?" He was trying to play it cool, but certainly not succeeding, so he moved on with the discussion. "But on a serious note, yeah. I do."

"You still into her?"

The question caught him off guard and made him blush just the tiniest bit, but he quickly regained his confidence. "So far, yes."

"Alright, whaddya wanna know?" the smaller of the two asked, his deep voice now saturated with the kind of teasing comfort only the best of friends, or married couples, can have when talking to each other.

All of Nick's gestures looked uneasy, since he wasn't exactly a hundred percent comfortable with the subject at paw, but he needed to deal with this whole situation, and he didn't have the slightest clue how. "What am I supposed to do, Finn?"

Finnick simply shrugged and flatly stated: "Nothing".

"What do you mean nothing? I have to tell her how I feel about everything that's going on, don't I?"

"And you've got the perfect opportunity to do so at your date", he countered, smirking at Nick, who was fiddling with his paws, "I'm still waitin' for a 'thank you' for setting that up, by the way".

"Well, you keep waiting and see how it works out for you", he said half aloud while sighing heavily. Nick was certainly not used to function at all before getting his daily dose of caffeine, which showed in his character.

Still trailing the snail-mobile in front of them, the two sat in silence. Nick was resting his head against his paw, his elbow supported by the door. His eyes were stuck on some faint stain on the passenger side window. Finnick was simply driving, although he took a few glances of the mammal next to him every now and then. Suddenly the small fox let out a chuckle, which evolved into a hearty laugh in no time.

Even if Nick was buried deep in his own thoughts, there was no way he would've ever missed the fennec act so oddly. "What's so funny?" he subconsciously asked.

The smaller fox attempted to calm down his laughter to answer, only to have another outburst- he sounded like a kit, whose sides were being tickled. This continued for a good half a minute until he was thoroughly done. Gasping for air and wiping away tears, Finnick finally explained himself: "It's just that you were such a playah back in the day, and now you havin' trouble with some deaf bunny!" Unsurprisingly, yet another wave of audible amusement found its way out of the fennec's mouth.

Nick thought about it, and came to the conclusion that his friend had a decent point. He let a genuine smile form on his face, and just huffed in agreement. When they weren't hustling or sleeping, which was a very small portion of their time, both Nick and Finnick would usually spend their evenings at a random bar trying to hook up with vixens for the night. And Nick rarely left alone.

The snorting came to an end with a content sigh, after which the source of said actions turned to the red fox with a smile of his own. Their brotherly moment didn't last long though, as Finnick continued on the topic. "What's her name anyway?"

Nick didn't change his posture: he was still having a staring contest with the stain and wasn't planning on losing. "Why do you care?"

Finnick shrugged and replied: "I don't". He lied. If this rabbit got Nick this messed up from just meeting him, he needed to know everything about her.

A long sigh filled the van. "Judy Hopps. Somewhere around 25. Law student. From the Burrows. Good looking. Smart. Deaf."

"Good looking and smart, huh?"

"For a bunny", he defined a little surprised by his own words as well.

"Whatever you say, bro", Finnick said with an amused smirk that nearly split his face in two. "Where you takin' her on Friday, by the way?"

At last Nick admitted his defeat to the stain and made eye contact with the fennec. He squinted his eyes a little, trying to remember something. "Where did you tell her to meet me at, again?"

The car slowing them down made a left turn, causing Finnick immediately to floor it- though the very worn out van was barely able to go faster than 45 miles per hour. Nick could hear a quiet whisper along the lines of "fucking finally" leave his friend's mouth, before he responded: "Frosty's at 8:00 p.m."

The red fox focused his gaze to the snow covered road. "I'll figure out something nice."

"Alright, but no playing with your food till the third date, if you know what I mean. Well, maybe second if you're lucky", Finnick teased, nudging him playfully as he spoke.

This got a chuckle out of Nick. "We'll see how it goes."

The following moments went by without a single word: Nick had a rematch with the same stain on the window, and Finnick was trying not to crash- startling the red fox every now and then by going far too fast. This went on until they stopped by some doughnut place called 'Meltin' Treats'- judging by the fancy neon sign on top of the entrance. The building was much smaller than the other ones on the street.

Nick was the first one to speak, staring at the shop with a confused look: "We grabbing coffee or what?"

His fennec companion opened the door and jumped out of the vehicle. "I already told you. I've got a load to pick up."

Nick did the same, circled around the van, and followed Finnick as the two approached the front door. The snow cover was hardened enough to support their weight, due to the extremely cold night. "Wait. You work as a delivery boy for a doughnut place?"

Finnick stopped at the door and turned to Nick. "Yes. All I do anyways is drive around town so why not get paid while doing so."

The larger fox seemed to wonder about this for a second, but then just nodded and said: "Alright."

"How come you ain't laughing?"

"Why would I be? This is good. I'm honestly happy for you, Finn."

The tiny fox was highly suspicious of his friend's answer, but let it slide since he was already a few minutes late. "Whatever, man. Stay here, I'll go get the boxes from the back."

"I'll have a cappuccino with extra sugar!" Nick half shouted as Finnick drifted away from him.

"Screw you", was all that Finnick blurted out.

The bell hanging above the door rang as he entered the store. Nick walked over and leaned against the red brick wall between the door and the shop window- his fur blended in perfectly with the background. The cheery looking place was absolutely filled with customers- the line of sugar craving mammals reached all the way to the front door.

Nick pulled out his phone from the pocket of his khakis and proceeded to Furbook and Snapchatter. He would check his feeds every few hours, even though he didn't really care what other mammals posted there. It was just a habit he'd developed in order to keep up with the latest trends- definitely not an addiction. At least that's what he would tell himself.

His focus was drawn away from a weird GIF of a frog riding a unicycle, when the bell rang again. He glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see his friend, only to find an overweight cheetah carrying two boxes of maybe a dozen doughnuts.

The feline noticed Nick glancing at him, and gave him a friendly nod. The fox returned the favor and fixated back on his Pawkia. No words were exchanged- as was the custom in Tundratown. Mammals, who were raised there, were proved to be more withdrawn than those who lived in other parts of Zootopia: the cold climate really had an effect on one's everyday mood.

The cheetah was already walking over to his old, yellow convertible, but suddenly shifted his upper body towards Nick. This caught his attention and the two locked eyes for a brief second. The red fox took notice of the feline's nose twitching viciously and his eyes widen all the way. It was sort of like the 'horizontally challenged cat' was a rookie detective who just witnessed a gruesome murder scene for the first time in his life. Nick found the whole situation exceedingly unpleasant and gave the mammal a 'what's wrong' kind of look.

"Oh, umm… sorry it's just that I… umm… I thought-", he was in a complete loss of words.

"Spit it out, Spots."

"I thought I had met you before, but I was mistaken", the cheetah explained very formally with a short break between every word. His expression had now tuned down to 'I-saw-a-plane-crash-ten-seconds-ago'-y. "Well, anyways, sorry for the inconvenience."

"Don't worry 'bout it."

Nick could only stare in amazement how quick the feline was in his actions as he turned around and paced to the aforementioned car.

 _'That was strange'_ , he thought to himself, still waiting for his buddy to exit the shop.


	6. Lunchtime

Judy was sitting at a corner booth of a diner, going through the first twenty of the 62 pages of small print regarding felony crimes. She couldn't believe she had missed such an important topic, but was certain that she would have little to no trouble at all processing it later on in the evening.

It had already been ten whole minutes since the agreed time of the meet up with Clawhauser, which made her squirm exasperatedly in her soft sofa-like seat. _'What is it with everyone being late nowadays?'_ she wondered to herself, paying absolutely no attention to the wolverine waitress merrily stepping towards her table.

The dark brown furred mammal wore a white apron, a red T-shirt, black jeans and a friendly smile. She was holding a small stack of the same sort of yellow sticky notes as Nick had yesterday night. The wolverine took notice of Judy being too deep in her studies to be aware of her presence, so she wrote something on one of the notes and slammed it on to Judy's book.

The startled bunny nearly jumped to the roof, but quickly caught on the other mammal's intentions. "Why do you always have to do that, Jenny?" she said, looking shocked and holding her chest like she had just gone through a heart attack.

The two already knew each other, since Judy and Ben would regularly spend most of their longer breaks at this same exact table, drinking coffee or having proper meals- generally snacking 'n' chatting. The place, called Danny's Diner, had a fairly underrated reputation, but was popular among COST's students due to its nearby location. However, the rabbit and the cheetah were the only actual regulars, and even had their usual booth adjusted so that they could both fit there comfortably: a suggestion that Jenny had made to the owner after Clawhauser had gotten stuck between the seat and the table- twice.

The waitress put her closed paw above her chest and made a circle motion, which meant 'sorry' in sign language. Many of Judy's friends knew the very basic things like 'hello', 'thanks' and 'bye' in sign just to make general conversations smoother. She then nodded towards the note, visibly giggling at her reaction. _'You ready to order?'_

The grey rabbit turned to make eye contact with her and politely replied: "I'll just have water for now, I'm still waiting for Ben to arrive".

After scribbling something down, the wolverine handed her another note: _'Oh, I thought he wasn't coming at all. He's never this late'._

Jenny started on another piece of paper before Judy could even open her mouth to agree with her much larger predator friend. "Yeah, I know. He must be stuck in traffic or something."

The wolverine nodded and gave her a final note before hurriedly strolling back into the kitchen through white double doors. _'Sorry, got to check on some orders. I'll be back in a minute.'_

Seconds turned into multiple minutes as Judy was once again glancing through her book absentmindedly. Clawhauser was yet to show up and their lunch break was nearly halfway done, so she decided to get a veggie sandwich to go, and make her way back to the college building. There was no point in waiting at the diner if they didn't have enough time to eat there anyway.

At the instant that Judy stood up, and was ready to go order her meal from the counter since Jenny seemed to be much too busy with some other patrons, a large feline burst out the door, scanning the diner for his small friend. They quickly spotted each other and exchanged looks. Both of them had an expression that said: _'Why didn't you let me know'_.

Judy grunted and continued her journey towards the counter for a sandwich, but was surprised to find herself back at the booth facing Clawhauser in just seconds. "Did you just carry me, or did I just learn how to teleport?" she asked, jolted by the cheetah's swiftness.

Ben shook his head and right paw, indicating that none of that mattered. He had his phone out and tried to motion for her to dig up her own. The rabbit understood what her friend was trying to say, but didn't have the faintest clue why. "Why not just use that app again?"

Clawhauser tilted his head towards the other mammals, and repeated the action of tapping on the phone to get his message through. The bunny unwillingly took out her phone, and gave the feline a look of 'are you happy now'. She then continued with a question that bothered her: "What took you so long?"

 _*One of my tires went flat, had to walk*_

"Oh, well that explains it."

 _*Judy, why do you smell exactly like Nick Wilde?*_

The rabbit's gaze shot up from the screen and locked with Ben's. Her eyes were widened, ears perked up and nose twitching rapidly. The question hit her like a train. She thought of fleeing, running away as fast as she could, climbing through the restroom window, anything to get out of the conversation to come. But she had to handle this correctly to prevent any unnecessary gossip from leaving the cheetah's muzzle.

 _*How did you find out?*_

 _*I saw him in front of Meltin' Treats earlier.*_

Judy sunk all the way to the bottom of her own thoughts. She was going through every single way of dealing with this and the consequences of doing so. No excuse or defense felt convincing enough, so she simply decided to come out with the truth.

The discussion proceeded as fast as a bullet, since they both were experts when it came to texting. The bunny was usually a little quicker, but was stumbling with her thumbs much more than usual. She was panicked- for the lack of a better word.

 _*How long have you guys been together?*_

 _*We met yesterday, Ben. There hasn't even been a first date yet.*_

The feline looked up in shock. _*And you already let him MARK you!?*_

Marking meant rubbing or simply leaving your scent on your _significant other_ to let everyone else know that said mammal was already taken, to put it shortly. It wasn't too unusual for parents to mark their kits either.

Judy blushed deep red under her gray fur, and lowered her ears. _*HE DIDN'T MARK ME!*_

 _*How do you explain the smell then?*_ Clawhauser looked very suspicious and a bit concerned.

Judy sighed and started to type her answer. _*We met yesterday in the library. He copied my notes and we chatted for a while. My parents called me, and he left before I could. He left his hoodie, which I had to wear on the way back to my apartment, along with his number on the table. We agreed on a date on Friday, and that's it.*_

 _*You sure you aren't leaving something out? Wearing one's clothes doesn't leave a scent that strong.*_

At first she was too embarrassed to tell her friend about cuddling with the grey piece of clothing, but figured that there was no way to dodge this subject. _*I might've had some unconscious contiguity with said hoodie while I was sleeping.*_

The cheetah's serious expression turned into a wide, suggestive smile before returning back to normal. _*So what you're saying is that he didn't mark you, but your body marked itself for him…*_

Judy retreated herself into the soft paddings for comfort like she had already done once in Clawhauser's car earlier today. She let out a loud squeak, which gathered the attention of a few mammals sitting at nearby tables. Needless to say, this was not the most enjoyable situation in her life- the desire to leave had grown unbearable- to put it lightly.

 _*Ben, I'm really not in the mood to talk about this right now, and I don't want to be late twice today, so can we please get something to go and leave?*_

 _*Oh, don't worry about prof. Brown. I already informed him that you got a nasty stomach ache this morning, and couldn't make it. AND WE'RE GOING THROUGH THIS NOW, JUDY!*_

 _*YOU WHAT?! I can't miss any more lectures today!*_

 _*Well, you should've thought about that before flirting with a fox.*_

 _*I DIDN'T! HE WAS THE ONE THAT HIT ON ME!*_

 _*Please calm your caps, Judy. We're absolutely going to discuss this through, whether you like it or not. Besides, now we have plenty of time for lunch :D*_

The rabbit calmed down, although she was extremely angry at her friend for bringing up such a touchy subject, filling her already busy evening schedule with even more studying, and generally trying to help her out with her life. She had everything under control, so being publicly discombobulated like this provided no real benefit. There was only one thing to describe her current feelings: _*:/*_

Clawhauser spotted Jenny and waved for her to come by, which she did. They ordered their usual portions: a simple green salad with carrots on the side for the rabbit, and a large plate of fish 'n' chips for the cheetah. The waitress once again hurried to the kitchen, leaving the two alone.

Judy was the first one to spark the interrupted conversation back up, actually somewhat relieved to have some form of a break from the annoyingly systematic life of a college student. She would deal with studying back at her apartment. _*So how do you even know Nick?*_

 _*Well, if you must know, we went to the same high school back in the day. We never really got to know each other though. You do realize he is around thirty, right?*_

She shrugged. _*About five years isn't that bad. Anything else you know?*_

 _*Nothing else than the fact that he is a FOX! I'm not saying that I don't approve or anything, but are you sure you wanna go through all of that?*_

Judy dropped her jaw and widened her eyes after she had given him her reply. _*WAIT! HE'S A FOX?! Hold on I've got to cancel that date.*_

 _*I'm serious, Judy. Not everyone can be as open-minded as we are.*_

 _*It's alright, Ben. I can handle this.*_

 _*You sure?*_

 _*Yes, yes I am."_

 _*So what are you two gonna do tomorrow? ;)*_

 _*What do you mean tomorrow?*_

 _*You said that your date was on Friday.*_

She didn't get the hint, and just looked at the cheetah puzzled.

 _*…and today is Thursday*_

Her ears perked back up at the obvious statement. She had somehow completely forgotten how little time she had before the date. The cheetah was taking in her reaction, looking amused.

 _*Do you know if Fru has anything to do later today? I really need to go shopping."_


	7. The first date

Nick was a wreck. He had proceeded with his day as just another usual Friday, but he simply couldn't shake off the anxiousness that had taken ahold of him while he was asleep. His morning had been the same as every other one of his life, a misery that is, since his brain only began to function after receiving a fair amount of caffeine. However, he might've had a bit too much this time around, judging by the way he was acting.

First of all, his mind was on overdrive, mainly in 'worry-about-everything' mode. He had already planned the whole night through and he knew that his rabbit date wouldn't be disappointed. The upcoming evening would be something fun and casual with a lot of time for chatting- the perfect recipe for a first date. Still, there was something inside of him reminding him about all the ways that his plan could be ruined.

Secondly, the fox couldn't stop physically twitching. His movements made him look as if he was being repeatedly stung with multiple little needles. The thousands of butterflies having a flying contest in his stomach certainly weren't helping his case. Plus, it had been a long time since he had been on a genuine date, which didn't exactly boost his confidence.

Luckily though, the weather had been on his side. If everything were to go correctly, the two would be spending most of their time together outdoors, which naturally would've been horrible in a snow storm. The conditions were perfect for his selected activity- the air felt refreshingly cool and the ground was covered with a fresh, clean, soft snow cover. It was actually still lightly snowing, painting the landscape with an even brighter shade of white.

Nick had arrived to Frosty's about fifteen minutes early: he'd wanted to make sure not to give the bunny any wrong impressions by first being late from their initial meet up at the library and now from their first date. He was sitting at the long counter of the otherwise small café. It was already relatively late for anyone sane to be enjoying a cup of coffee or any pastries, so the shop was empty excluding Nick and the arctic fox who ran the place.

Nick was 'friends' with said fox, even though they hadn't seen each other in almost twenty years: the two of them had lived close to each other as little kits and would play with the other neighborhood youngsters almost daily. In fact he was 'friends' with nearly everyone in the city- not taking in count the ones whom he had hustled. There weren't many mammals that he was actually close with, the quantity of his true _friends_ reaching a mindboggling thirteen: he hadn't been in touch with any relatives in years either.

Nick had managed to sweet talk the arctic fox into leaving the shop under his management for two hours after the normal closing hours of 8 p.m. Well, more like begged, prayed and paid, but that doesn't matter. In most situations foxes would help each other out in any possible way, since other mammals rarely saw them as anything but culpable. However, Nick's request had been more than dubious, but after unwillingly explaining his intentions of an interspecies date and craving for privacy from judging eyes, the other fox had kindly agreed- in return of a hundred dollars though.

The pale white mammal made her way out of the back of the café and threw the keys to Nick, who clumsily caught them. "Leave them next to the cash register. I've got a spare one at home", she said, passing him, and continuing, "And let me know how it went afterwards". She finished with a wink, and swiftly left before Nick had a chance to reply.

The red fox's paws laid on the reddish, granite surface, fiddling with a pistachio green stack of similar sticky notes he had used to communicate with Judy back at the library. He had apparently lost the yellow ones, and decided to buy a whole new pile: he felt as if using the pieces of paper to chat was more appropriate than simply texting, mainly because it involved more interacting with her. It was also somewhat intriguing to have everything he would say during the evening saved in a physical format on paper.

Nick pulled his Pawkia out of his pocket and put it right back after checking it. Two minutes to eight, no new messages. _'Maybe I should wait outside. We aren't going to stay here anyway'_ , he thought to himself, unsure of which option was the better one- although it really didn't make a difference. The nervousness occupying his whole body was growing stronger every passing second.

Then the café's front door opened and all of his doubts, negative feelings and tenseness were locked away in a chest, which he buried deep under his poker face smirk. He shifted in his chair to greet her but only managed to open his mouth and widen his eyes. Yes, he'd thought that she had looked good the day before yesterday, but now he was stunned. The bunny wore a long, beige jacket along with a simple white shirt and ripped, dim blue jeans. It wasn't anything special, but the little details such as the belt attached to the jacket and her black scarf made the look work.

And just like that, the chest which contained every emotion and thought that bothered him just seconds earlier vanished, and was replaced with something else. Something that had his mind running clearly and ready for anything, but made the winged insects inside of him race even faster.

He might've stared for too long or looked a little too amazed, because the rabbit stopped walking, still close to the entrance, and lowered her ears behind her back. In reality, Judy had gotten flustered by the obvious "Wow" that the fox had let out. It wasn't hard to make out what he said by reading the distinctive motioning of his lips, even if she was yet to fully master the skill. She didn't want the fox to see how badly that one word made her blush, so she had to hide her gigantic ears.

All the confidence she had built up throughout the day instantly evaporated in thin air. Judy had gone through her entire day bracing herself for this exact moment, yet she found herself unable to move a single muscle. There was no way that she could've ever expected _this_ reaction from him, and to be completely honest, neither could Nick.

They just stared at the other's eyes until Nick broke out of his trance, stood up, and started slowly making his way towards her while writing on one of the notes. Once close enough, he handed it to her and waited for a response with his usual smug look on. _'Well someone's put on an effort'_

Judy smiled shyly but widely. At least that's all he could make out before she lowered her head and locked her gaze to her paws. Firetrucks had nothing on her cheeks. "Thanks, but they're called clothes not effort. You're not looking too bad yourself either", she stated, muttering the last part so that Nick barely heard her.

Nick's attire consisted of a very casual grey sweater and blue, fairly tight jeans. He much preferred clothes which were more comfortable, but he decided to make an exception for this evening: although it had cost him around fifty bucks. He still had a lot of savings though, so it didn't matter much.

The bunny hadn't even raised her blushing head yet, when Nick shoved the next piece of paper into her crossed paws. _'Good enough for me. You ready to go?'_

"Wait, I thought we were having coffee or something", she turned around to face the door and quizzically ogled at the fox, who was already holding it open for her.

He threw a crumbled green paper ball across the gap between them, and Judy caught it just as ungracefully as he had caught the keys earlier. _'We'll do that afterwards, Cottontail. Trust me, I've got everything planned out.'_

She shrugged: "Well, if you say so, Slick". The bunny made her way outside through the door and waited for Nick to lock it. When he was done with the process, they made a left turn and started sluggishly ambling down the street, side by side. "Why do you even have the keys to that place anyway?"

He shrugged and wrote something down. _'I've got my acquaintances.'_

She glanced at him, unsatisfied by the scarce answer. "Such as…"

His smirk stayed the same, but Judy could see a fragment of pride shine in his eyes. _'Everyone in Zootopia.'_

"Yeah right. And I saw a flying pig the other day", she retorted with sarcasm.

Nick swiftly twisted his upper body to her direction, put his right front paw on his chest and formed an expression of being deeply hurt. His ears were lying flat against his head, eyebrows a little furrowed, lips in a slight frown and eyes wider than usually. He then quickly changed back to his normal mien, already writing down his reply. _'You wound me, Carrots. And by the way there's this one pig pilot, named Jack Hooves, who I happen to know, so...'_

"Har har. Riddle me this then: if you know _everyone_ , then how come you don't know anything about me?"

He shrugged. _'I guess, that's why I'm here now. To get to know you. Besides I still know more about you than you about me.'_

"Well, start talking then."

His smirk grew ever wider. _'Something tells me you're pretty inexperienced in dating.'_

She broke their eye contact and pulled up her scarf to partially cover her now embarrassed face. "What makes you think that?" came the timid voice, muffled by the black piece of woolen clothing in front of her mouth.

Nick had to once again settle the note between her paws in order to gain her attention. _'Look, there's nothing wrong with that or anything. Just enjoy the evening and have fun, we can chit-chat back at the café later. Plus why would I talk if you won't listen to me?'_

"One: alright, I'll wait until we get back, but you'll have to promise to make me some tea. Two: stop it with the deaf jokes already, jerk!" She was trying to prevent a smile from taking over her muzzle, but failed miserably. Honestly she didn't mind them- as long as he was the one telling them, just thought they were beyond silly.

' _Deal.'_

" _Sooo_ , would you at least like to tell me where we're going?" At this point Judy had no idea where they even were: she had never been around this part of Tundratown before, plus walking while keeping up a conversation, and feeling this zany for too long made her head dizzy.

' _You'll find out in a minute. It's just around the corner.'_

The pair passed two high rises and crossed the quiet street behind the buildings. The rest of their walk went by uneventfully as they entered Park Fresch, a small public park named after the tiny lake it surrounded. To reach said park though, they had to climb a few hundred steps, which had them both out of breath.

Gasping for air in a hidden manner, mainly to avert Nick seeing how worn out she was, the rabbit broke the calming silence of the evening: "You know, you didn't have to drag me all the way up here just for us to take a stroll through a park".

They continued on a narrow path of pawprints towards a small cabin right next to the waterfront. The park had loads of trees, mostly spruce and pine, which filled the otherwise white sight with dark green. The sky was getting darker every passing second, although the stars weren't yet visible.

He glanced at her cunningly. _'But you can't skate in other parks, now can you?'_

"We're skating?" she asked with a raised voice and a single drip of uneasiness.

The fox looked bemused. _'You got something against the idea, or what?'_

She glanced at him and spread her arms as if he had mocked her somehow: "Nick, I don't know how to skate!"

' _Good.'_

Now it was the bunny's turn to be puzzled. "What do you mean _good_? I'll look foolish!"

Nick's grin grew so wide that she thought it would leave his muzzle. _'Good, because I get to teach you. And by the way, Fluff, you mispronounced great ;)'_

Judy nudged the side of his stomach with her elbow, and unsurprisingly turned all the way crimson. However, this time she didn't try to hide it, but instead faced the fox, gave him a sheepish smile and grabbed his paw into her own.

This took him by surprise- for the lack of a better expression. His eyes widened, drifted to their connected paws and then back to her lavender irises. His smug face had changed into a shocked one. Yes, Judy showing her affection towards him so spontaneously had his heart pounding like there was no tomorrow, but what really caught him off guard was how soft, small and delicate her paw felt. Eventually he got over the initial bewilderment, formed a warm, but bashful smile of his own and tightened his grip. He was in fact so lost in the moment that he never noticed her slipping the green paper square into her jacket's right pocket instead of returning it to him like she normally did.

There was no way he could use a pen and hold the stack of notes with only one arm, so the two walked the rest of the way to the cabin without a word. They arrived at the log building, and Nick (unwillingly) parted their united limbs to ask her one final thing before entering. _'So, how do you want us to go about in public?'_

Judy stopped on the second of four overall steps and looked at the fox leaning against the railing- the steps made it so their eyes were at the same level. "What do you mean?"

' _Do you want others to see us as a 'couple' or just friends? You do understand how some mammals think of pred-prey relationships, right?'_

"Oh, umm-" she went through the options, even though the answer should've been obvious, "I guess it would be better for us to keep this a secret for now. What do you think?"

' _Pretty much the same honestly. On a side note, have you told anyone yet?'_

Her ears lowered substantially and she broke away from his gaze. "Well, I hadn't, but my one of best friends might've found out, and forced me to explicate the day before yesterday. Don't ask me how."

Nick seemed to ponder on something before starting to scribble again. _'And is this individual called Benjamin Clawhauser by any chance?'_

"Ho- how did you know?" she asked, baffled by his correct assumption.

' _Lucky guess. So I'm assuming he knows that we're on a date right now, doesn't he?'_

Her eyes found their way back to his. "Maaaybe."

' _How did he react?'_

She shrugged lazily and gave her reply like it wasn't a big deal: "He was concerned at first, but didn't have anything against the idea. I mean he's got a boyfriend so it isn't like he's the most biased mammal on Earth".

' _Fair enough, but I still want to have a chat with him on Monday if that's alright with you. I've heard some pretty sensitive stuff leave that cheetah's mouth, and I don't want to be a part of one of his stories.'_

"Sure, we can have lunch by the three of us if you don't have anything else planned."

' _Sounds good. C'mon, let's go get ourselves some skates, shall we?'_

"I'm still not so sure about this."

The red fox passed her and gave her another piece of paper. _'Don't worry, Carrots. You'll do fine.'_ He then gently tugged on one of her ears while she was still reading in an attempt to get her moving, which instantly earned him another elbow to the side.

The small but extremely cozy cabin was used as a place where park-goers could take a break or have a snack. It was run by a nice, old beaver couple, who also happened to rent skates of all sizes for a generous amount of ten dollars per hour. Finnick had actually once proposed that the two foxes would pretend to be coaches and rent some of the skates for a kits' hockey event, but Nick didn't think that the profits of the stolen goods were worth of possible jail time. He had always bent the law, never broke it.

It took fifteen minutes for both the rabbit and the fox to find models, which both supported and fit their paws. Nick made a comment about Judy's skates looking more like sailboats than anything else. The two beavers were unexpectedly taciturn throughout the whole ordeal, even for residents of Tundratown. Nick paid the twenty dollar charge, and the two made their way outside: Judy's careful movements reminded him of someone walking on high heels for the first time in their life.

There were only a pawful of skaters occupying the smooth surface of the lake, most of whom were playing hockey on the other side, about 700 feet from them. This was because the mammals who even knew of the place would visit the lake at earlier hours: Friday nights were all about going to town or relaxing at home for most mammals, in most cases including Nick.

He descended the stairs without a problem and stepped on the black rubber mat, which led to the edge of the ice. Judy however took her sweet time doing the same process, yet managed to get the blade of her left skate stuck on a gap between two wooden planks, which together formed a single step- an event which led to her fall forwards. The aftermath would've been nasty if it weren't for Nick stopping her in mid fall. He took out another note from his pocket and wrote down his snarky comment. _'Careful now, don't want you falling for anyone else ;)'_

Apparently even something that cliché made her smile if it came out of his mouth: "Dumb fox. What's up with you and winky faces anyway?"

Nick was basically embracing the bunny in a hug. Her paws were on his shoulders for support and his behind her back. They stayed like that for a brief moment.

He helped her back up and down the remaining steps. As they walked, or in Judy's case trudged, their way to the ice, Nick handed her his very messy reply- handling a pen without looking was terribly hard. _'Only really get 2 use them around u, so why not?'_

The fox lunged confidently on to the frozen lake, and took a few kicks forward. She could tell he was an experienced skater, which only made her more nervous. There was no way she wouldn't make herself a complete laughing stock. Needless to say, she was hesitant to set her feet on the slippery surface.

Nick took notice of this and proficiently came back to his date. He came to a full stop after a quick breaking motion, which sent a good amount of snow and other forms of water her way. Wiping her jacket clean, she gave him an unamused glance, knowing that what he just did wasn't an accident.

' _Sorry, I'm a bit out of practice.'_ Judy raised her gaze from the paper only to find his face in its standard setting. He was holding his paws invitingly in front of her- the pads facing the sky.

She happily took them.

He started calmly drifting backwards, dragging the bunny along with him. She was stood up straight and stumbling with every inch they advanced. The fox stopped and let go of her paws to write, but the little momentum they had gained had Judy still moving. She collided with Nick, and threw her arms around him, or as far as she could, to prevent herself from falling.

The grey rabbit was so pressed into him that he had to carefully push her away a little bit to even make her able to see the piece of paper- let alone actually read it. _'Looks like we'll have to start from the basics, Cottontail. Bend your knees a little. I'll lead for now.'_

Judy did as was asked and once again connected their paws. He started off the same way as he did last time, but moderately added speed as she got more and more comfy with the skates. She had her full concentration on her feet to avoid any bumps on the ice- or at least she did, until Nick lifted her stare to meet his eyes, and just like that, all the bumps in the world disappeared from her mind.

After about five minutes of drifting, Nick unattached himself without a warning, and let the bunny move uncontrollably forwards and past him by herself while he was writing. He turned around to catch up to her, but was greeted by yet another elbow to the stomach area.

He hastily rubbed the spot of the previous multiple impacts: although she was much smaller than him, there was enough firepower in her to actually cause slight pain. He crumbled the paper he was holding and took out a new one. _'Look at you go and beat up innocent foxes.'_

"You know you deserved that", she fired back flatly.

' _Ready to try by yourself or do you still want me to hold your paw?'_

Her mouth didn't even give her brain a chance to process the question before giving the fox an answer: "I'll go with the latter one."

He placed himself on her right, took her paw and nodded reassuringly. _'That's what I was hoping for. Whenever you're ready.'_

Judy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her mind convincing her that there was nothing to be worried about. It was just skating and Nick definitely wouldn't laugh at her plausible failures. So why was she so anxious?

Her left leg moved by itself as it slowly but surely pushed her forward, followed by her other leg imitating the action. Nick spectated her calm motioning and began moving as well. With every few feet that the pairing gained between them and the log cabin behind them, the sporadic pushes of the rabbit's legs adopted more sliding and a steadier rhythm, eventually turning into something that reminded Nick's style.

Her eyelids moved aside and let her scan the whole situation. She, Judith Laverne Hopps, a bunny who had never set a foot on solid ice before, had just learned how to skate. In under half an hour. On a first date. With a fox. With _Nick Wilde_. The feeling conquering her body at the realization was indescribable- good at that sense.

She tilted her head and made eye contact with him. His green eyes spoke one word: pride. She could feel him tighten his grip on her paw before completely letting go. He wanted to let her try going around the lake's surface with no restrictions.

There was one thing Judy wanted to do before that though.

The bunny uncouthly turned and bumped into her date. She grabbed the grey sweater and pulled on it so that Nick had to bend down all the way to her level. Tiptoeing on the, somewhat dull, blades of her skates, Judy leaned in, ears drooped, and brought their lips together.

It wasn't an awkward kind of kiss, but it wasn't a passionate one either. Nick was in a weird pose, yet didn't flinch at all during the four seconds their muzzles were connected, even though her spontaneous forwardness had taken him completely by surprise. His eyes had closed on instinct as she had leaned in. His nose had caught a small trace of her scent. His paws had found their way on her soft cheeks. He had done the same thing hundreds of times before, but this was so… different.

They parted to look at each other. Judy's head was racing fast: the decision to kiss him had been a conscious one, but the actual deed still got to her more than it should've. "I… I really like you, Nick", she mumbled shyly.

A huge smile overwhelmed the fox's whole face. _'I like myself too. Guess I'll have to start planning on a second date, huh?'_

She teasingly pushed on his chest and made a look of ultimate dissatisfaction: "Well, don't bother with that attitude".

His smile stayed the same as he spoke this time around, making sure that she could understand what he was saying: "I like you too, you cute bunny". Thankfully for him, she didn't seem to understand the last part of the sentence, simply smiled back.

"Not good enough. I'm going to need some evidence to show Ben, if he asks", she announced, in reality wanting some sort of proof to convince herself that he did indeed have feelings for her.

An amused sigh and some audio of a pen scraping against paper later, he stuck the note on her forehead. _'This isn't some police investigation, but I do understand you wanting to brag about me.'_

Judy looked up in anticipation, biting her lower lip as if she was a kit waiting to be given a new toy, completely ignoring him fooling around. Sure enough, he was already scribbling another note. She snatched it from his paw right after he lifted the tip of the pen seemingly for the last time. _'Do I like you? Yes, yes I do.'_

Judy sedately folded the already little piece of pistachio colored paper twice and tucked it into the pocket of her jacket. Suddenly she shoved him a little back and bolted in the opposite direction. Glancing over her shoulder at the still entranced fox, she shouted: "Bet you can't catch me!" before returning to pile up distance between them.

He took a second or two to regain his equanimity before patiently leaving his statue-like state. Granted, Judy was still only a beginner, and he could've caught up to her whenever he liked, but he wasn't there to compete. He was there to have fun with a certain bunny- as weird as it had sounded earlier.

The playful chase continued for some time, six and a half minutes to be exact, until Nick decided to finally catch his prey- quite literally. He was standing behind her, arms around her waistline. _'And here I was thinking you rabbits were supposed to be fast.'_

Her mouth let out a giggle, but was quickly shut after a pulsing pain in her lower members made its presence known to the rest of her body. "Umm… I don't want to be a killjoy, and I know we haven't been here for even an hour yet, but these things are seriously killing me." She wiggled her back paws back and forth to elucidate her point. At this point her skates felt like they were anacondas strapped around her whole legs.

' _Yeah, no worries. I was honestly about to say the same thing.'_ His skates had been designed for wolves which made them extremely uncomfortable. But the choice had been between them and nothing, so he had decided to go through the misery of using them.

The two mammals returned to the cabin paw in paw, regretting that they had ever receded so far from it in the first place. They were swift with the process of removing their skates, both of them letting a sigh of physical relief as they were released from the tight holds. Neither of the two wished to walk more than an inch in their current states.

Nick led them back to the path, which they had used when first arriving. The mellow snow below their feet made walking much more pleasant, although not enough for Judy. Nick quickly perceived her poorly trying to hide her apparent aches by half limping. _'Is it really that bad?'_

She looked up in faked confusion and a forced smile: "What is?" Nick couldn't have missed her talking with clenched teeth even if he was blind. He could tell that she was about to collapse, and they weren't even at the stairs yet.

Without so much as an answer, he grabbed the bases of her arms and lifted her squeaking frame on his shoulders, now basically giving her a piggyback ride. She wrapped her arms around the top of his head. "What are you doing, you dumb fox?" came the panicky yell.

' _Helping you, but if you've got complaints, I can always set you back down.'_

"That's the second time already! You can't just keep doing stuff without letting me know!"

She felt his shoulders raise and then lower underneath her in response. _'I can't see why not. You're still not complaining so I'm not doing anything wrong, am I?'_

Her jaw had already dropped to let another bunch of riled words fly out, but instead closed. She grunted, fumes escaping through her pink nose. There was no way she would take another step with her feet being so soar, if another alternative of getting around existed- even if it made her feel inferior to her date. "So, where did you learn to skate like that?" she began, her presumption proving truthful.

' _I used to play in a team as a pup, had to quit after it got too expensive. Any hobbies of your own?'_

"I did track and field when I was little, but I dropped it after starting high school."

' _Long and high jump?'_

"How did you know?"

He chuckled. _'Dumb_ _ **bunny**_ _.'_

After the realization of how oblivious she had been to the manifest giveaway and flicking his left ear in needless revenge, Judy sunk back into the calmness of the quiet evening. Nick didn't show any signs of fatigue, which was good news for the still hurting rabbit.

They, or he, made their way down the steep, slippery sets of stone stairs. Judy was getting excruciatingly tired. She laid her chin on the fluffy fur between his perked up ears, which didn't help her cause at all. The weather had turned temperate, and her eyelids felt like they were being pulled down by at least ten elephants. There was nothing she could've done to prevent her body from forcefully shutting down.

* * *

She felt something move around the rim of her ears, producing a tingly sensation, which caused her to squirm in what she assumed was her bed. The tingling kept on going, ultimately waking her up to inspect whatever had interrupted her rest. The reality of the situation hit her in the head like a brick.

Nick was leaning over a dark brown, wooden surface, stroking her left ear. They were back at Frosty's, sitting on opposite sides of a round table: her head placed on her arms, which laid on the wooden piece of furniture. He pulled his paw away after coming to the conclusion that the bunny was once again conscious.

"Oh god. How long was I out?" she shamefully asked, rubbing the sleepiness out of her big eyes. This had to be the first time anyone's fallen asleep in the middle of a first date.

Not to her surprise, his smirk seemed larger than usual: the fox clearly thought the whole thing was hilarious- much to her relief. _'Long enough for me to get here and make these.'_ He got up, walked over to the counter, grabbed two large, cobalt blue mugs and returned to his seat- a chair made out of the same type of wood as the table.

He set the drinks in front of her, both of them tea- as had been agreed earlier, although different flavors by the looks of the color difference. _'Right one's berry, left one's caramel. Your pick, Fluff.'_

"Caramel tea?"

' _Heavenly. Trust me.'_

"As long as you're not trying to poison me", she uttered as she reached for the left mug.

Nick snorted and took the other one. _'That boring, huh?'_

"No! Not at all. I just got really tired all of a sudden. It's been great. Really." Judy was well aware that he was most likely just teasing her, but felt too embarrassed to just ignore what she had done. She lifted the hot liquid on her lips, and took a small sip. The taste was, as Nick had promised, absolute heaven. The sugary sweetness of the caramel mixed with the unique, balmy taste of the tea had her mouth in bliss.

' _Told you it was good.'_ The red fox somehow managed to look smug even whilst drinking.

Judy nodded in return. A subject from earlier bounced back into her mind: "By the way, did you tell anyone?"

' _About what?'_

She pointed to herself, then Nick, and then back to herself. "This. _Us_ , I guess", the idea of them as a couple still made her cheeks heat up: having thought of it for the whole day didn't seem to help her.

' _You say it like we're engaged :D-'_ he didn't want to explain the whole thing about Finnick being the one, who originally set up the date, so he decided to leave out some details: _'Actually, my friend saw our text conversation, and made me explain'._

"So you do have friends!" she sassed, then suspiciously continued: "But unless you call every bunny you come across beautiful, that doesn't explain how they knew I'm not a vixen."

' _It's not exactly hard to figure out the other mammal's species if their contact name is Carrotbun.'_

She rolled her eyes in an extra exaggerative manner: "You would come up with something that dumb".

Both of them took a generous swig from their respectful mugs, trying to hide their smiles for some unknown reason. Time flew by as they spent the following twenty minutes properly introducing themselves, going through their favorite everything and some other basic topics- there was a lot of laughter and friendly debating involved. Nick was glad to avoid any questions regarding his past, family and, most of all, habitation with the use of his silver tongue- he figured that saying _'Hi, I'm Nick Wilde, an unemployed fox with a tragic past, who lives in a storage unit.'_ wouldn't have quite done the trick.

The blue dishes stood empty on the table, indicating that the evening was about to come to a conclusion. _'You ready to go, Carrots?'_

"Yeah, absolu-", she hopped off of her chair only to have her legs tremble beneath her. Luckily Nick was, yet again, fast enough to stop her from hitting the floor. He gave her a _'_ do I need to remind you' sort of look, and helped her back up.

Her feet weren't soar anymore, but had turned into spaghetti after getting a decent amount of rest: they could hardly even support her own weight while standing still, not mentioning walking around. She met his eyes and knowing smile. _'Let me guess, you need another Wilde ride?'_

The words escaped Judy's lips before she could set up a filter in front of her muzzle: "Depends on what you're offering". Both she and time froze as her brain finally caught up to her mouth. "Winky face?" she added unsurely, muttering incoherently as she tried to play it off as a joke.

Which it was. Probably.

Nick's eyes widened for a second, but shortly returned to the half lidded posture she had already grown fond of. _'You gotta work on that, Fluff. Just a sec, I need to clean this place up.'_

Her lungs collapsed, releasing a long breath, which she hadn't realized she had been holding in. Nick picked up the mugs and paced behind the counter to wash them. He sloppily ran a wet rag along the granite, and went around the back to shut the lights. On his way back to the bunny, he threw the keys next to the cash register and left some change on the table they had sat at.

Instead of lifting her by the bases of her arms, the fox now grabbed her hips- an action which made her, unsurprisingly, tense up in confusion. She didn't scold him in any way though. The fox-rabbit tower exited the building, made sure the door was locked, and started wobbling towards their destination with the help of Judy's instructions.

The walk took about a quarter of an hour. Every time they had to make a turn, Judy would flick or tug one of Nick's ears to betoken the right way, eliciting a sigh out of the fox and giggling from the rabbit. No words were exchanged, yet she felt more interested and important than in any vocal conversation with her friends. To put it shortly, she was happy. Not even the weird or disapproving looks some mammals gave them were enough to bring her mood down.

After passing a pair of middle aged lynxes, who didn't exactly seem to be supporters of interspecies relationships, Nick burst out to a hearty chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

' _I came across those two earlier while we were getting back from the park. You should've seen their faces, when they spotted…'_ The paper square ran out of room. _'…a fox carrying an unconscious bunny in a remote part of town late in the evening.'_

With a final tug on Nick's right ear, they arrived to the front door of the apartment building Judy lived in. "The door's open. Floor 24, please. Chop chop", she joked. Unbelievably, he didn't seem to oppose, until…

' _The elevator's broken!?'_

"Don't be such a wuss. A little exercise won't kill you", she bantered, really hoping that she wouldn't have to climb up herself.

He shook his head and handed her another note. _'Say that after you've carried me up these damn things.'_

Judy giggled as the tower of two animals began rising up the steps. "Umm, Nick. Do you have any plans for Sunday?"

' _Apart from being cool and handsome? No, not really. How come?'_

Her answer was delighted, coy and hopeful: "Well, I need to do my speech training thingy, and I need someone to help me out with the pronunciation and stuff. I mean, it can get pretty boring, and you don't-". His paw holding up a piece of paper cut her off.

' _I would love to, Carrots. Where and when?'_

A wide smile replaced the narrow, doubtful one. "I was thinking my apartment at seven."

' _I promise to be there,_ _ **if**_ _I survive this night.'_

After a while of leisurely ascending, they made it to her floor, Nick unsuccessfully trying to hide his hard panting. He got completely breathless though, when Judy casually jumped off his shoulders, and walked up to her front door without a single sign of the pasta legs from earlier. Too exhausted to follow her, he settled for another match of paper ball tennis. He threw the crumbled note in his paws, hitting her right between the slightly lowered ears as she was fiddling with her keys.

Judy turned around, holding in laughter as she read the note. _'I thought you weren't able to walk?!'_

"Nah, I just didn't feel like it, so I kind of pretended the whole thing back at the café", she saw his jaw drop to the floor, but eyes not falter. "What? It's called a hustle, sweetheart."

Nick couldn't restrain himself anymore- not after what she had just pulled off. He closed the gap between them with six determined strides, seeing her face turn ever so cheerful and innocent: she knew what he was craving for, and was glad to be a part of it.

He was about to lift her off the ground, only to catch her midair after her jumping into him. Her legs wrapped around his upper back area and arms around his neck. Nick's paws were on her lower back, pulling her frame into him to prevent her from sliding down. Their lips met for the second time that evening, this time being much more passionate, drawn-out and generally enjoyable.

Once done with _tasting each other_ , Nick set her back down, and began scrawling. _'Sly bunny.'_

Judy opened the door to her apartment, merely shrugging in response: "Again, dumb fox". She turned around and walked through the open entryway, keeping eye contact with him. "See you on Sunday!"

Nick gave her a lazy salute as usual, but immediately dug up his phone, and started typing.

The door closed with a thud, and the bunny was left leaning into it. She felt amazing. This had been the best evening of her life by a long shot. But just as she thought it couldn't get any better, her phone vibrated with a new message from 'Fox'.

 _*Already miss you :"(*_


	8. Roomies

"So… how did it go? You been quiet the whole day", Finnick spoke, curious about his friend's date yesterday night, interrupting the host behind the screen of an old, crappy portable TV.

It was a typical lazy Saturday afternoon with nothing planned for the evening. The two foxes had woken up just an hour earlier, and were now sitting on a pair of dirty pillows in Finnick's cramped van, watching a rerun of an episode of _Who's a good boy_ , a game show in which contestants are given multiple simple tasks to complete and a limited amount of time to do so: the contender who accomplished the most tasks the fastest then had a chance to win a cash prize of ten thousand dollars by answering three random follow-up questions right.

It wasn't the most entertaining way to kill time, but it sufficed. Nick was more concentrated on the apartment listings in _Zootopia Daily_ though. The fennec had to repeat himself to gain his attention: "I asked you how your date was, asshole".

Nick turned the page, producing a loud sound of paper crumbling, and looked at him: "Oh, that. It was good. Love you too, by the way".

"Where did you take her?" Finnick swiftly continued. He focused back on the television, and Nick on the newspaper.

"Fresch", came the absentminded reply.

A piece of dried, salted fish flew into the tiny fox's mouth. His teeth chewed on it as he spoke: "Skating? How did that work out?"

"Well."

The cold and musty air was filled with silence for a minute or two. A concern passed through the smaller mammal's mind. "Anyone mess with you guys?"

"Nope."

"You guys-", he gulped down the mush of protein, and silently burped, "mess with each other?"

The red fox turned to face his friend, who was watching one of the ten contestants run through a seemingly impossible obstacle course. His face was uncertain as he spoke: "She did suggest it, but I wasn't sure if she was kidding or not".

A quiet mumble left the fennec's muzzle: "Hmpf, typical bunny."

There was another short moment of silence, during which Nick returned to his earlier position, before a deep voice filled the van once again: "Never knew you was a romantic type".

"Not around you", Nick retorted as he laid down the paper and pulled out his phone.

Finnick took notice of this from the corner of his eye. "You textin' her right now, aren't ya?"

"Yep."

"I'm guessin' you been doing that the whole mornin', huh?"

A nod.

"What you two talking about?" Finnick tried to change his posture so that he could see the Pawkia's screen more clearly, but Nick wasn't having any of it.

He shifted on his pillow and pushed his friend away from him: "Nothing that involves you."

The fennec had already gotten frustrated of the other fox's terse attitude: "Oh, fuck off already! Ain't nothing too sensitive that you couldn't tell me 'bout it".

A drawn-out, tired sigh escaped Nick's nostrils. However, he knew that his buddy had a point. Besides he had no one else to talk to about this specific subject. His expression softened: "You".

Finnick saw him lighten up a little bit, walked over, and leaned on his shoulder: "What do you mean 'you'?"

"'You' as in the topic we're currently discussing." He received a very pissed off glare from the van's owner. The phone exchanged holders after Nick was done hesitating for a brief second. Finnick scrolled up to the point where he assumed the latest conversation began.

 _*No way! Blueberries are so much better!*_

 _*Who's the friend you told us about by the way? You never gave me his/her name.*_

 _*You wouldn't know him anyway.*_

 _*You don't know that*_

There was a photo of the sand colored fox watching the television, which Nick had taken a few moments ago while he wasn't paying attention, with a depiction attached to it: _*Finnick the fennec. Ring any bells?*_

 _*Never heard of him. No offense or anything, but how tall is he? :0*_

 _*You're about twice his size.*_

 _*With or without my ears perked?*_

 _*Without.*_

 _*Wow. Where are you guys anyway?*_

 _*Why? Wanna come hang? ;)*_

 _*I think I can wait until tomorrow, thank you. I'm too busy catching up with Thursday's lectures anyway. But seriously, what is that place?*_

 _*His van. Our apartment is being renovated so we kinda came up with a temporary solution.*_

 _*So you are SHARING A VAN with your roommate until your place is done?! :D*_

 _*Don't worry, we've got separate beds. At least I'm not living in a storage unit or something.*_

 _*LOL, I guess there's that. Aaaand exactly how long is your temporary solution going to last btw?*_

 _*Somewhere between 2-3 weeks.*_

 _*Really? Well, sounds like we'll just have to settle for my place then ;)*_

Finnick's gaze slowly moved from the screen back to Nick, who was already waiting to get shouted at. "'Nothing that involves you' my ass! Lie to me again, and I'll break your muzzle!"

"Finn, listen-", he tried to explain, but was cut off.

"And what was that shit about an apartment?" came the continuation to his angry yelling. He threw the device in his paws at the other mammal, and barely missed his head, instead hitting the wall. The Pawkia survived the scene with no injuries, but the wall wasn't so lucky: there was now a huge dent in it.

The larger fox's second attempt faced the same fate as the first one: "Just calm down, and let me-".

"Man, you're like under a day in and already screwing everything up!"

This was the furthest Nick could go without losing his temper. He got up and took the opportunity to take control of the conversation: "Listen to me! You know me better than that. I've got it under control".

Finnick froze, arms spread, looking straight into his eyes, seemingly done with raging. His whole stance collapsed, indicating he had nothing to say.

After taking in a deep breath to both clear out his thoughts and calm down, Nick opened his mouth to let his answer float out: "There's no way I can stay in a frigging storage, if I'm going to be serious about this, but I can't afford a real apartment by myself. So… I need a roomie". His brain quietly laughed at what he was about to do.

The phone buzzed on the floor with a new message from Judy: _*Umm… Nick, you still there?*_ Both of the mammals inside the van ignored it.

The red fox fell on one knee, stretched out his both paws to quickly grab Finnick's left one, and locked eyes with him. He cleared his throat, and put on the cheesiest tone he could muster: "Finn, will you help me trick my rabbit girlfriend, and improve your own standard of living by becoming my roommate?"

The fennec's exterior went back to extremely offended, and for a second Nick was afraid of catching a right hook to the side of his muzzle.

Which he did. Full force.

He stumbled backwards, and tripped on the edge of a small, white mattress, which caused him to fly out of the vehicle. Nick landed on his back, feeling the wind being knocked out of him- the snow cover proved no use in softening the impact. A distinctive smooth taste of salt and iron appeared in his mouth.

Nick shifted on to his side to spit out some of the saliva-blood mixture, which colored the pure white ground with crimson red dots. The hit had made one of his fangs puncture the inside of his cheek, but didn't do any serious damage. His assaulter watched him from the van's backside opening, not sure what to think.

"I'll take that as a yes", came the garbled words out of the amused victim laying on the parking lot of the all too familiar storage facility. He knew that he had wholly deserved the last eighteen seconds, but also that his offer was one that his friend couldn't refuse.

"A couple days ago you were more than happy with that crap", Finnick started, pointing to one of the many blue roll-up doors.

"Yeah, I was, but that was then. I'm going after something else now", he defended himself whilst cleaning his muzzle.

The phone vibrated once more: _*I need to stop flirting, huh?*_

The fennec tried to get rid of some of the exasperation inside of him by repeatedly slamming his head against the wall, speaking a word at a time in between every hit: "You. Just. Met. Her. Nick".

Said mammal was still on his side, glancing at the other fox with reassuring eyes: "I know, but I'm not planning on never meeting her again. Besides, even if that doesn't work out, we would still have ourselves a real place to stay at. You don't even have to give up that joke on four wheels of yours. It's a win-win situation".

"All the things I put my ass through for you", he sighed. "You sure you can find a place in two weeks?"

Nick's face twisted into the usual grin-half lidded, sly eyes combo as soon as he heard him comply. "Not necessarily, but it's pretty unusual for renovations to be finished on schedule, right? We've got plenty of time."

The smaller fox grunted, lightly shaking his head: "Imma talk to Frank tomorrow". He picked up the Pawkia from the floor and threw it over to its rightful owner, not trying to cause any harm this time around. "Maybe he's got something for us."

"Thanks, Finn. Really."

"Screw you." The two back doors were hurled shut simultaneously, the loud thud breaking the distant clamor of traffic. Nick finally stood up and brushed off all the snow stuck to his clothes- luckily it was cold enough for the white essence not to melt.

' _That went well'_ , he cheered in his mind, walking over to his unit. He was honestly surprised by how little beating up he had received. After fiddling with the lock and keys for a minute or two, Nick entered his decorated storage space.

He jumped back first on to the purple beanbag chair, and curled up into a fox ball. His paws found their way to his left pocket, and took out his favorite device in the whole world. He read the messages he had missed, internally chuckling at the bunny's silliness.

 _*Nah, you just need more practice.*_

She immediately began typing. _*I know another thing I'm going to need practice at ;)*_

 _*That's a lot better, but I'm still not impressed…_ _Keep trying though.*_


	9. Speech therapy

Judy sat at her wooden kitchen table in a black top and very basic, light blue jeans, drumming her fingers on the surface in a steady rhythm, thumping her right foot to the floor in boredom, absent-mindedly staring at the wall clock's second hand tick forward ever so slowly. She had spent the last hour and a half cleaning up the mess that was her apartment. The past few days had forced her to make an exception or two to her usual orderly and tidy lifestyle, and it showed.

Most of the work had involved going through, and organizing the many tall stacks of mostly clean clothes, which had formed in the event of her emptying the whole cabinet when she'd been trying to decide what to wear for the date the other day. In addition to the mountains of clothing laying around, every surface had gathered enough dust for it to be clearly noticeable, and although she knew that Nick wouldn't care about it, she wanted _everything_ to be perfect.

It was 6.54 p.m., just like it had been for the last ten minutes. Or that is at least that's how the bunny felt.

Judy had spent the whole afternoon still trying to catch up with all the lectures she had missed on Thursday. Constantly thinking about, and texting with Nick on the previous days had certainly taken their toll on the speed of her progress- not even mentioning the eight different conversations regarding the same exact fox she'd had with Clawhauser.

Her kitchen was just like the rest of her apartment- small and simple. Along with the table she was currently waiting at, the room had only a few drawers for dishes, cutlery, pans and such, a little fridge and a freezer right next to her family's old but fit stove, and a black microwave, which she much preferred to the aforementioned stove when cooking.

The screen of her phone, which laid in front of her on the tabletop, lit up, causing her to bounce back to reality from her trance. The first thing her brain picked up on, and was frustrated by, was the time shown by the four digits of the digital clock- _06:51 p.m._ She made a mental note to readjust the clock hanging over the door in the near future.

That thought was cut short though, when she saw the notification of a new message from Nick. Her paws rushed to unlock the device in excitement, nearly dropping it in the process of doing so. _*You home?*_

She got up from her chair and began wobbling towards the front door whilst typing. _*Yeah. Why?*_

 _*Wow, rude. I've been knocking here for like 5 mins.*_

The rabbit took a quick peek through the peephole, just to make sure he was actually there, before opening the door separating them. The fox was wearing the same brown khakis as he had in the library along with the sweater from the day before yesterday. His face was in the amused smug setting, but that should go without saying.

"Jerk", she flatly stated, arms crossed, leaning into the door frame.

His paws switched the phone into a stack of paper and a pen, and started writing. _'I don't think that's how you're supposed to welcome someone to your home, Carrots.'_

A warm smile took over her muzzle as she stepped aside, giving Nick enough space to slip inside. Due to his size, the red fox had to crouch a little to make it through the door, but luckily had enough room to stand up straight in the apartment.

Judy closed the door, and took a few steps towards him so that she was now standing right behind him, all the while watching him scan the narrow sight. "So, what do you think?" came the sheepish voice.

He glanced at her over his shoulder with his other eyebrow raised, scribbled down his reply, turned around, and stuck the note between her ears- her arms had been behind her back so she'd had no chance of stopping him. The bunny let out a short, unamused sigh, and carefully detached the piece of paper from the sleek fur on top of her head. _'It's better than the van. Plus it kinda reminds me of you.'_

"You're going to have to be a little more specific than that", she told him confusedly.

Judy could already tell that his answer would be at least somewhat provoking by the widening of his smirk. _'Small and really cute.'_

Already knowing what was to come after his comment, Nick tensed up every muscle of his streamlined frame in order to protect himself. Sure enough, a furry elbow made contact with his stomach area, and despite his preparations, still managed to hurt a bit. Though, he didn't have much time to wallow in the puny pain, as he was taken aback by the following timid words: "You really think so?"

Although he had no clue which answer was the correct one, his head nodded calmly but vigorously a few times. It was very obvious that Judy was blushing by now, at least dimly. She raised her index finger, and opened her mouth to speak, as if she was about to make a point, but instead just filled her cheeks with air and pointed towards the kitchen. "You want anything before we start?"

A little dazed by her reaction and the actual previous question itself, Nick was unable to break their eye contact to look at his scrawling. _'Why did you ask?'_

Her gaze locked on nothing particular on the window several feet behind him. "Well, it's going to take over an hour until we'll be done, and-", she tried to dodge the question, but Nick wasn't giving up.

' _You know that's not what I mean, Fluff.'_

She spoke in a heedful manner, not quite sure herself why she had asked that: "Oh, I guess I just wanted to know how you see me?"

' _So is it a bad thing I think you're cute?'_

The whole discussion felt really awkward, but the topic was important enough to her to go through more thoroughly. "Depends on what you mean by _cute_."

Nick finally realized what was bothering her, making it possible for him to come up with a clarifying answer, which broke the stiffness of the situation. _'Beautiful kind of cute, Carrots, not adorable plush toy kind of cute. Besides, as your boyfriend I should have the right to compliment you without being beaten up every time.'_

Her expression lightened up remarkably as she read the paper square, and she was once again able to look into his glowing, green eyes. The forced smile on her face changed into a genuine one: needless to say, she was very happy with the outcome of the conversation. "Oh, you can compliment me plenty, as long as you don't call me cute", she chirped, inching her way towards the kitchen. "Plus it's fun to bully you."

The bunny disappeared behind the wall, and Nick was left by himself in the quiet apartment. Glad that he hadn't screwed up in only a few minutes of time, the red fox snorted, took a final look of the bedroom/living room, and followed her, stopping at the doorway.

He watched her hasten around the kitchenette area (occasionally stealing glances at a certain region under her fuzzy tail), and pick a pair of glass bowls and glasses, which she then filled. Done with preparing the snacks for the upcoming session, Judy started picking everything up, only to have the bowl of blueberries and the other glass of carrot juice stolen from the kitchen counter right before she could reach them.

The rabbit had been completely unaware of him creeping up to her, and nearly dropped the vessels, because of said action. If looks could physically hurt others, Nick would've had to have his funeral right there and then.

The vulpine noticed how badly he'd startled her, but didn't apologize for it. Instead he let out a silent "Thanks", and headed out the door back to her bed, assuming that it would basically function as a couch for the evening since the tiny table back in the other room didn't exactly scream comfortable to him. The fox set his drink on the floor underneath the bed, and himself onto it, leaning against the wall with a pillow between his back and the striped wallpaper, tossing a few of the berries from the bowl on his lap into his mouth.

A brief moment later, Judy entered the same space he was in, looking as merry as ever- she had gone through the realization that they would most likely go a bit further than just a few kisses later on in the evening, which had flustered her so bad that she forgot all about being at least a little mad at him for scaring her.

Her own snacks (baby carrots and a glass of the very same juice) found themselves on the white table next to the bed. "One sec, I need to get my hearing aids and some other stuff we're going to need", she announced whilst walking over to her cabinet. A sixth of a minute later, she was sitting next to Nick with a brown, cardboard box in her paws: the gap of only a few inches separating them felt like an ocean to both of the mammals.

' _So, you're not totally deaf, huh?'_ He curiously observed her setting up the earpiece and handing him two stacks of bright yellow carton strips with markings on them.

"Nope. But these things don't really help much at all", she said, shifting her upper body to face him, half concentrating on fiddling with the devices. "I can barely hear myself in here when practicing, and most of that sound is something that my brain makes up based on vibrations anyway. So yeah, they're not even worth trying to use in public."

The red fox seemed very intrigued by the sight. _'Does that mean you have a concept of sound, by the way?'_

A shrug. "Kind of. It's hard to explain. I mean, I know what me and my parents sound like, but that's pretty much it."

The hearing aids were now placed at the bases of her long ears, allowing her to fully concentrate on talking. _'How do you know what your parents sound like?'_

"Honestly, it's been so long that I don't anymore, but I used to back when I lived with them, since they were usually the ones who helped me with these sessions. Once they learned sign when I was around nine or ten, they simply stopped talking to me aloud altogether. I don't blame them though, handling that big of a family isn't easy, you know."

Another pair of blueberries were crunched by his teeth. _'That didn't answer my question, Cottontail.'_

"Oh. Well, to put it shortly, they shouted right into my ears one at a time to let me have a general idea how high or low pitched their voices were", she stopped for a second or two to regain her thoughts: rambling for this long wasn't something she was used to. Her voice was shy as she continued: "Speaking of which, I need to know what you sound like before we begin".

He looked surprised by this, but didn't have anything against 'the request'. _'Alright. Do I just scream at you or what?'_

The bunny got on her knees, and slowly reached for the fox's neck with an open palm. The bubble of confidence surrounding her was popped by a sharp needle, causing her following words to come out as a stammer: "Yeah, pretty much, but I- I'll have to feel your throat while you're doing it".

He flinched a little when her paw came in touch with his fur, but other than that, kept on his smug look, and gave her another piece of paper. _'Sure, if that helps you somehow. Anything particular you want me to say? ;)'_

For the record, Judy had thought of a lot of things that she craved to hear him tell her, but since most of them weren't really appropriate for the situation, she settled for blushing hard and shaking her head implausibly. "Nothing that comes to mind."

Her paw on his voice box, he grinned, leaned to his left so that he was looming over her small figure, and half yelled right into her now slightly tilted lengthy appendage: "You're a terrible liar, cutie".

This time around he got away with only a gentle punch, since Judy was trying to both figuratively hide her deep red head into the ground as if she was an ostrich, and store every detail of the most recent voice into her memory.

Nick took notice of her uneasy demeanor, and swiftly continued on with the situation. He returned to his earlier position, taking great pleasure in watching the panicky rabbit's nose twitch so fast that it might as well been powered by a jet engine. _'So, what's up with these strips?'_

Her mind calmed down, and returned to focus on the conversation, much unlike her mouth, which felt dry as a desert. She reached for her glass of juice on her front left, and gulped some of the liquid down, as well as a couple of the root vegetables from the bowl, before replying: "Sorry about that. The other stack is random words and sentences I gathered laaast March, I think, and the other one's tones. Just pick one from each, then tell them to me".

The red fox did as was advised, but wrote one last thing before starting. _'Tell as in actually audibly say it, right?'_

In reality it didn't matter if he pronounced them to her since she had heard every single one of them twice a week for ten months now, but getting the chance to explore Nick's voice a bit more wasn't one that she would get every day. She let out a quick "Yeah" like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Nodding once, he leaned closer to her ear just like he had done earlier, although being more careful this time so that the bowl of eleven remaining berries wouldn't fall off his lap. Without so much as hesitating for a second, her brain piloted her paw onto his neck. "Most lawyers go through a long process to specialize in a certain jurisdiction. Dramatic."

With a smirk similar to Nick's plastered on her muzzle, her lips let out thirteen perfectly formed words in a sarcasm-o-meter breaking manner: " _Most lawyers_ go through a _looong_ process to _specialize_ in a certain _jurisdiction_ ".

Nick pulled back, glanced at her with a bit of a baffled but generally amused look, and took a new piece of carton from the top of both stacks. After repeating the process of leaning towards the bunny, he once again spoke vociferously: "A squad of six squatting squirrels squealed under a squinting squid. Serious".

"A squad of six squatting squirrels squealed under a squinting squid."

…

"Nowadays mammals are accustomed to most nutriments: with the exception of those, who live under water, of course. Sad."

"Nowadays mammals are accustomed to most nutriments: with the exception of those who live under water of course." She even managed to shed a fake tear while sobbing through the sentence.

…

"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of mammals. Bitter."

"The _ultimate_ goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of mammals."

…

"Here we go, let's hear you do this one", he took a deep breath before promptly starting, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood. Fearful".

The response could've been used in a horror movie, and no one would've even noticed how ridiculous the actual phrase was. " _How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood_."

"Exactly when did you start training your speech, again?", he wondered out loud, unable to believe how well she was doing, still staying very close to her.

Her eyes fell from his to the spot her paw was on. "On the second grade. At least that's when I started taking it very seriously. A lot of my friends and other kits made fun of me and some even bullied me for speaking weirdly and otherwise being deaf, so, I guess, I… just got tired of it."

Nick saw the smallest amount of moisture build up on the surface of her eyes, which was a clear signal of what he had to do. He pulled her into the soft cotton of his sweater, now tightly embracing her, feeling her heart beat against his chest and remarking it raise substantially after a few seconds of hugging had passed.

"Nick, I'm fine. You don't have to-", her reassuring was cut short.

His paw gently took hold of her chin, and raised her glassy eyes back up to look at his. "Shush. I know how it feels, and as far as I'm concerned, you're not fine."

"What do you mean?"

His head lowered just enough for their noses to meet. "I'll tell you some other time."

They stayed like that for the time that it took for Judy to regain her calmness. Well, actually a lot longer than that, taken that she had time to realize she was enjoying his warmth, and be somewhere between bashful and proud by the fact she was doing so.

"We should finish the session", she quietly stated.

His grin grew two times wider, and turned allusive. "Yeah, we should, but we don't have to."

Her ears dropped like rocks, and she hastily pushed herself out of the hug, and returned to her place of holding his throat, which was honestly not that different from being embraced by the fox. "We do though. Really do."

He chuckled. "You know, you're a lot coyer in real life than in our text conversations."

"That's different. They're just for fun", she explained, grabbed her half empty glass, and began chugging it all down.

Not getting a straight up "No", he teased her some more, but was careful not to cross any lines: "Are you saying that the other option isn't fun?"

The rabbit nearly choked on her drink. Coughing noisily, she retorted: "No, I just… really want to finish this… first".

Hearing the last word pop up, Nick gave her the slyest look he could muster, and took two new strips from the now splayed piles of carton. A good while passed with them returning back to the process of listen and repeat, a thin cloud of tension floating in the air between the pair, nothing unnecessary audibly exchanged.

"We surely shall see the sun shine soon. Joyful."

"We _surely shall_ see the sun shine soon."

…

"In almost every profession - whether it's law or journalism, finance or medicine or academia or running a small business - mammals rely on confidential communications to do their jobs. Tired."

"In almost every profession - whether it's law or journalism, finance or medicine or academia or running a small business - mammals rely on confidential communications to do their jobs."

…

"Send toast to ten tense stout saints' ten tall tents. Trenchant."

"Send toast to _ten_ tense stout saints' ten _tall_ tents."

…

"Oh wow. Umm… A mischievous fox stood in front of the helpless rabbit, hungrily staring it down."

Judy's body turned into stone- she had completely forgotten that was one of the sentences. All that moved was her mouth, as she squeaked her next words: "And the tone?"

"Well, I don't know why you even have this in here, but… seductive."

A loud gulp filled the room. That specific tone was a way to get a few laughs out of a couple of her older sisters, but she never used it with anyone else, mainly to avoid any awkwardness from taking place. A nervous laugh escaped her mouth, followed by her attempt at the sentence: "A _mischievous_ fox stood in front of the _helpless_ rabbit, _hungrily_ staring it down".

He rubbed his neck whilst talking: "That's good, but you really need to emphasize on 'the fox' to make it work".

"Oh. So, it's like: A _mischievous fox_ stood in front of the _helpless_ rabbit, _hungrily_ staring it down."

Nick was reaching over the edge of the bed to get his drink, only to accidentally knock it over onto the wooden floor under the bunk, mostly because of being distracted by Judy's more than successful effort. He apologetically glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, before hopping off the bed, and rushing to the kitchen to get some paper towels he remembered seeing earlier.

As soon as Nick was out of sight, Judy simply collapsed onto the rough counterpane. Her heart was about ready to stop out of exhaustion, so naturally she was grateful to get a short break. For some reason she hadn't expected that the evening would be so intense.

That's when she remembered where she had tossed a certain grey piece of clothing when she was cleaning up more than an hour ago. She was about to swiftly retrieve it, but was stopped on her tracks as Nick came walking in with a roll of paper.

The bunny sat up, and watched him crouch all the way onto his stomach to be able to wipe the orange beverage. His upper body disappeared behind the black frame of the bed, as if he was trying to reach something, forcing her to prepare for the guaranteed embarrassment only seconds away.

His marginally wagging tail twitched once before coming to a full stop. He pushed himself further, and then back out, holding the soaked mass of paper and the empty glass in his one paw and the hoodie in the other. He stood up, gave her a knowing look, and went back to the kitchen to ditch the mess.

Judy followed him, trying to come up with an explanation, but found that the gearwheels inside her head weren't turning. Nick dropped the ball of carrot juicy mush into the trash can, and washed his paws, before coming over to her and speaking into the other hearing aid: "I was wondering if I would ever see this again. What did you with it anyway?"

She figured that she couldn't lie her way out of the discussion, but apparently that didn't mean she wouldn't try: "Nothing, except for wear it when I got back here from the library. I kinda just forgot it under there".

He glared at her suspiciously. "Carrots, I'm a fox. I've got a sense of smell, and this-", he said, holding up the cloth, "-smells like a bunny".

The smaller mammal's innocent expression became a shy one. "Well, maybe I slept with it… more than once."

"That's…"

Suddenly the floor seemed very interesting to her, at least judging by how her eyes were drafting around it. "Weird, I know", she sighed, compiling courage to confessing a little more, "But since I've got nothing to lose at this point, I really like your scent".

Nick couldn't help but laugh at her interruption. "I was going to say cute. You're right though, that second part _is_ weird."

Instead of physically harming him, she raised her gaze, and smiled. "We're basically done with that, aren't we?" she asked, or more like suggested, nodding her head towards the kitchen doorway.

"Make out?"

"Make out."


	10. Chit chat

The front door of the midcentury styled diner flew open as a grey hoodie and brown khakis wearing fox entered the building from the soul hollowing snowstorm that controlled the entire outside view. His eyes darted from patron to patron until they landed on two black tipped ears in a booth all the way in the back right corner of the dining area.

Judy had arrived to the agreed place of the meet-up earlier with Clawhauser since they had had the same lecture, and was now twiddling with her phone, seemingly chatting with the chubby cheetah sitting opposite to her, paying no attention to anything else. They would both visibly chuckle a little every few seconds, and then return to furiously typing.

That was until Nick made his way to them and slammed himself into the free space next to the bunny, who, unsurprisingly, was badly frightened by this, and even let out a distinct "Eep!" to emphasize her already apparent reaction. After catching up with the situation though, her expression turned into a warm and welcoming one.

Ben simply snorted at her and returned to the depths of his mobile device, knowing that the two would greet each other before he would be included in the conversation. His attention didn't stay on the screen for too long though.

Nick quickly glanced at the other customers over both of his shoulders, and came to the conclusion that no one was watching- not even the mammal across the table. He bent down and swiftly planted a small peck on her unsuspecting lips.

Judy silently cursed the fox in her head. How in the world was he able to make so many feelings blast inside of her like fireworks in only twenty-three total seconds. She put on a bemused face, then whispered to him, mainly to prevent anyone from eavesdropping her, but also to hide the giddiness a single touch of their lips induced: "What was that for?"

The red fox reached for his right-side pocket, and drew out a single pistachio colored sticky note along with a black marker. He took an unnoticeable glance at Clawhauser as he wrote down his reply. The feline was secretly spying on their interaction out of the corner of his eye, using his phone as a cover, or at least trying to.

Nick gave the mammal next to him a sly smile along with a note. An unwanted gap separated them, although it was clearly narrower than one would be between just close friends. _'Don't act like you don't know, Cottontail.'_

A _lot_ of images from last night flashed through her mind, causing the insides of her perked up ears turn deep crimson: she didn't hide the appendages behind her back though, as that would've been an even clearer giveaway of her flustered state. Judy indeed knew what he was aiming for. After, and a bit during, their mouth to mouth session yesterday, they had drifted off to discussing kissing in general. Eventually Nick had mentioned a ' _Hi, how's it going?_ ' kiss, and they had gotten into a playful debate whether it was a common practice or not.

She shot him an unamused glare, and followed the action with words spiced with over exaggerated frustration. She spoke with a normal volume this time as what she was about to bark out didn't contain anything sensitive: "We already went over this, and you agreed. That isn't a thing".

"Oh, I can't take this", came the mumbling from the other end of the booth. The cheetah was getting impatient since he was used to be the talkative one in any conversation, so he casually cleared his throat and spoke in a perky tone: "What are you two cuties talking about?"

Nick paused, looked at him, then shrugged, and returned to scrabbling. _'That doesn't mean we can't make it one. Besides, I happen to know that you like being affectionate, Miss Cuddly.'_

He handed the bunny the note, and waited for her to start reading it before answering to her best friend- the fox wanted to see how well he could talk to someone else right in front of her without her realizing it. "Nice to meet you too, Ben. And the current topic would be kisses."

Clawhauser took notice of him timing his words so that Judy didn't see him speak and decided to play along.

The smallest one of the three's figures turned ghostly for a few moments at the mention of her last night's behavior. She had convinced herself that she had merely been worn out by a hard day at work plus all the previous five days which had been filled with novelty and stress, although she still knew that this wasn't the case. A pawful of air escaped her lungs, forming an act somewhere between a snort and a sigh. "Well. I'm doing well. Though, I thought we were trying to keep this a secret."

Seconds later she received another piece of paper. _'We are. No one saw us, Fluff. Not even Spots here.'_ Nick had told him to shake his head the next time she looks at him while she had been reading, and, without hesitation, Ben did just that. Judy initially let out a small giggle at the silly nickname, but quickly grasped that the two had been talking behind her back- figuratively, of course. Her paw gave the fox's shoulder a firm swat, but before she could scold him any further, a big brown bear appeared in front of the booth.

"Who's the new guy?" came the extremely low and husky voice, causing Nick to bounce away from Judy- he had subconsciously inched his way towards her during their exchange, and had been far too close to be mistaken as a friend.

The middle aged bear, standing two whole heads taller than the cheetah, wore a bit oversized blue jeans that matched his eyes and a simple white blouse, which was mostly protected by a black, grease stained apron. There was a shiny, metallic nameplate over his left breast that said _'Danny'_. Nick figured that this must've been the owner of the place.

Clawhauser reacted before the canine could introduce himself: "Oh, he's just a friend of ours from COST. Nick, meet Danny, and vice versa". The two shook paws and exchanged brief greetings, Nick trying to hide the pain that the much larger carnivore's tight hold caused him with all his might. The feline then chirpily continued: "Where's Jenny by the way? You're never serving at this hour".

The friendly expression on the bear's face vanished and was replaced by a confused and somewhat worried one. "Wait, you haven't heard? She went missing over the weekend. The ZPD's already looking into it. They think that it's connected to the fourteen missing mammals thingy."

"The what now?" asked Nick.

"C'mon, don't tell me you kids never watch the news. Apparently there are fourteen, or at this point fifteen, predators missing from all over Zootopia", said Danny, some uneasiness clearly present in his voice. "It's been weeks since the first few cases and no one still knows anything about what happened to them."

"That's so terrible", Clawhauser lowly stated.

Nick turned his gaze to meet Ben's, both surprised and slightly frightened by the news. He wondered how he had missed such a big story spending so much time on his phone and all, but didn't pay more attention to it. The unknowing bunny tugged on his sleeve, and gave him a concerned look. Although she didn't know what the three were talking about, she could tell that it wasn't a pleasant subject. Her paw guided itself onto his forearm as she spoke: "What's wrong, Nick?"

The fox wasn't going to try and explain all of this in the middle of another conversation, so he just settled for delaying the process. Besides, he didn't even know who this aforementioned Jenny was. _'Wait a moment, you really want to talk this through with Benji.'_ (He mentally slapped himself for using such a stupid name- that was a low effort even on his scales.)

"Yeah, it really is", the largest mammal said and let out a deep sigh. "But there's nothing we can do except for wait. I'm sure the cops will handle this soon enough."

"I sure hope so", Ben added, his normal demeanor slowly waking back up.

"So, you two having your usuals?" Danny held up two fingers, so that Judy understood him as well. She and Ben both nodded twice.

Nick answered before he was even asked: "I'm not feeling too hungry at the moment, so I'll just have a coffee, please. Medium sized, two pieces of sugar and no milk, thank you".

"Alright, coming right up", the bear said as he gave the group a final friendly smile and left for the kitchen.

The three were left staring at one another, speechless, until Judy's curiosity got the best of her: "So?"

Both of the predators at the table focused on her, and then at each other. The feline was the first one to speak whilst digging for his phone: "One sec, I'll make us a group chat".

The fox did the same and motioned for the rabbit to take out her mobile too, but was stopped in his tracks as she already had it out. "Do you need my number for that?"

Clawhauser kept his eyes locked in on the screen. "Nah, Judy's already adding you. I'll save it through the app just in case I ever need it though. Which I probably will."

The Pawkia in Nick's paws vibrated as he got a notification of having been added to a new conversation on _WhadUp_. He opened it up, silently chuckling at the name _'SS Wildehopps'_ that showed on top of the screen. The cheetah was already explaining the whole situation to Judy, whose expression grew a bit moodier every time she read another message.

Nick watched as bubbles filled with text flew by the screen. It took the trio full five minutes to sort everything out: the fox now knew the basic things about the wolverine waitress, and Judy was informed of said mammal going missing. Unlike the two males, she had heard of the news story a couple days ago, and didn't have to updated on that regard.

Judy: _*Gosh, I really hope she's ok…*_

Ben: _*Same here*_

Nick: _*^*_

Done with the bad news, the chubbiest one of the three animals changed topics, his ultimate goal to lighten the mood.

Ben: _*So, Nick, Judy's told me a lot about you*_

The red fox side-glanced at her, barely making out her clenching her teeth together in discomfort.

Nick: _*Define a lot*_

Judy: _*Not that much really*_

Ben: _*Oh, please! This morning you took fifteen minutes to describe how good it felt to have his tongue explore your mouth :DD*_

Both the canine and the feline stifled hearty laughs as the bunny shot the latter a glare of daggers and laid her head onto the tabletop in shame. Yes, he was overstating, although not by too much. She reminded herself that this was the same gossip as before she had met Nick.

Nick: _*Point being?*_

Ben: _*Oh, right. She, however, never told me what you do/have done for a living*_

Her forehead broke the contact with the wooden surface as she raised her head to look at her phone and Nick- her cheeks still hot as a wildfire.

Judy: _*Yeah, now that I think about it, you've never even mentioned that*_

Nick had thought of the answer to this specific question thoroughly multiple times, but was still a little nervous of Judy finding out about his true past of hustling and borderline crime so early into their relationship. Thankfully he didn't have to do this vocally nor worry too much about his gestures. His gaze met hers, and he shrugged.

Nick: _*Guess it never came up. I've pretty much just done a lot of odd jobs. Anything I could find, honestly. For example, I ran an ice cream shop with Finn before I moved here*_

She couldn't hide her amused smile. The idea of the fox selling icy treats to little kits was hilarious, yet somehow heartwarming.

Judy: _*You? Ice cream?*_

Nick: _*Better believe it, Carrots. Ever heard of Pawpsicles?*_

Judy: _*Can't say I have*_

The cheetah nearly jumped in his seat.

Ben: _*Those were yours?! I loved them back in the day! My roommate used to buy the little things for us like every afternoon*_

Nick: _*I mean, if you want to, I can make you another load someday*_

Ben: _*Oh, thanks for the offer, but I couldn't make you go through the effort of making them. Besides, I'm fine with my donuts*_

Judy: _*I might want to try one out though…*_

Nick: _*That's fine. What flavor, Cottontail?*_

Judy: _*Well, since you're making them, I think it's only fair that you decide*_

Nick: _*I'm still making them for you. I've had enough of them to last me for a lifetime.*_

Judy: _*Nah, really, it's fine. You pick*_

Nick: _*Alright, if you insist, Fluff. Btw, that reminds me, where did you buy the blueberries from yesterday? I didn't remember to ask you about that since we got… distracted*_

Ben: _*^This right here^*_

Judy: _*Oh, shut up, Ben. Anyways, I actually didn't buy them. My mom sent them and some other stuff to me from the Burrows. How come?*_

Ben: _*For the record, I haven't spoken this whole time*_

Nick: _*Nice one, Spots. Wait, so you're saying that your family grows those small pieces of heaven?*_

Judy: _*Yep?*_

Nick: _*Any chance you could get some more…?*_

Judy: _*Sorry, but the next 'shipment' isn't until the end of the month*_

Nick: _*Aww, c'mon- I'm sure they wouldn't mind sending some extra if they knew they were for a hungry boyfriend*_

He turned to face the rabbit, his face in the pleading puppy setting that only canines could master. She looked puzzled by the request, but there was something else readable in her expression- something between happiness and fear. "You seriously want me to tell my parents about you?" her unsure and timid voice broke the clamor originating from the nearby booths.

Nick: _*You say it like it's a cause of life and death, but yeah. I mean, I have nothing against the idea, and you're going to have to do it at some point anyways, so why not just get it over with?*_

Ben: _*O. M. Goodness, this is just too adorable!*_

Before Judy could fight back the tidal wave of emotions and doubt washing over her and respond, the same brown bear from earlier once again appeared in front of them, holding a tray with a bowl, a plate, two high glasses of water, and a paper cup.

He began handing out the items to their respective orderers, who all let out short thankyous as they received their meals. "So, fish 'n' chips with extra dip for you, a green salad with hay and carrots on the side for the small one, and a coffee for the newcomer, there you go. Bon appétit!" the large figure finished and hurried to serve another table.

Clawhauser immediately began chugging down his food, much unlike Judy, who just kept on staring at the smiling fox now carefully sipping on his burning hot beverage. "I'll… think about it", she finally managed to squeak out, already going through all the options of how to do so in her mind.


	11. A step forward

The door to Judy's shoebox of an apartment creaked open as an agitated bunny and a concerned fox made their way inside, her angry rambling breaking the comforting sound of the fierce, early February wind slam against the window on the back wall. They were both well dressed: the canine wore his tight, black jeans and a green blouse, which matched amazingly well with his emerald eyes, along with a purple tie. Judy on the other paw had dug up one of her old dresses; a plain but fancy, red one, which, much to her surprise, still fit her perfectly. Nick calmly shut the door behind them while Judy went on to search through her cabinet for her hearing aids.

"What the heck was his problem anyway? I mean, why couldn't he just leave us alone and mind his own frigging business!" she shouted in an offended tone, only growing more and more annoyed of the situation from not being able to find the box that contained the earpieces.

It had been whole two and a half weeks from their initial meetup at the library; weeks filled with several dinner dates, a few movie nights and more than enough speech training sessions with them getting sidetracked to something else that involved controlling the movements of a tongue. Nick had even spent a night at her place after they had both fallen asleep while watching a horror flick a week ago on Saturday. Needless to say, the rabbit had gotten quite startled when she had woken up the next morning, cuddled to the fox's fluffy, though fabric covered side.

To put it shortly, they were extremely happy with how things were going- or at least they had been, before this specific night.

Her cracking voice filled the room once more: "How does our relationship have any hindrance on his sad, miserable life?"

Nick had managed to book them a table of two from one of the more distinguished restaurants in all of Zootopia, and certainly the finest one in Tundratown, _Avalánsch_ , using some of his connections from the days when he still used to work for Mr. Big. The mobster would frequently dinner with his closest 'employees', and was never one to settle for anything but the best the industry had to offer. The fox still had more than a few acquaintances working at the place, one of whom was willing to help him out. For some extra tip, that is.

Everything had gone smoothly until they had met the moose who would serve as their waiter for the evening. Before that point in time, neither of the pair had met anyone so strictly against interspecies relationships, and even though they both knew that it would happen eventually, the mammal's actions still got to them, no matter how much they tried to ignore the feelings. Not even Nick's 'never let them see that they get to you' lifestyle proved much help when it came to this subject.

Some of the rude acts performed by the devil in antlers consisted of _accidentally_ dropping their cutlery _twice_ , clearly making them wait for their food for a good extra fifteen minutes and then serving it to them cold, and even going as far as spilling some red wine onto Nick's jeans- he was lucky to have picked black ones so that the stains were barely noticeable by now. That is not to mention his general 'piss off' sort of attitude and the looks he gave the two.

If Nick had to come up with one positive side about Judy's deafness, he would most likely say that it was her not having to listen to the moose's comments such as: "And what would you like to drink, sir? I heard rabbit tastes excellent with a glass of Pinot Noir", or: "Would you like something for dessert, or is _she_ enough?" For the record, the red fox did catch glimpses of some of the patrons in the nearby tables giving him and his date compassionate and somewhat apologetic looks.

No one spoke up for them though. Not even the pairing themselves- simply putting up with the waiter was a much better alternative than making a scene and drawing even more attention to them.

At last done with her frustrated babble, Judy threw herself back first into the wall on her right side, laid her head against it, and collapsed to the floor, all the while holding back an army of sobs. Her efforts of trying to find the cardboard box had gone unsuccessful, and though in all reality it was only a small inconvenience, it still made Judy feel like life was purposefully stomping her down to the ground. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her forehead onto them, ultimately curling up into a ball of rabbit.

That's when the dam broke, and she was sent into a state of uncontrollable weeping.

All Nick could do was to stare at her absentmindedly, ears pinned down, deeply sorry for how their date had ended, and unsure of how to approach her. Foxes were by no means social animals, and comforting others wasn't something he had done very often, but he knew he had to help her somehow.

Calmly walking past the crumbled mass of grey fur to her bed, he crouched down to retrieve the box which contained all the things needed for the speech practices. Nick recalled putting it there the last time he was at her apartment so that it wouldn't fall off the bed during their... advanced studies. He returned to the bunny, though she was too deep in her own melancholic thoughts to even notice him sitting down next to her.

Nick's left arm gently tugged on her right ear, and after a few seconds of her trying to calm down the waterworks, he got her full attention. In any other circumstances he would've remarked on how cute she looked when sad, but now was not the time for that. Instead he put on the sincerest face he could muster.

The fox laid the cardboard container onto the floor next him, took out both of the earpieces, one of which he handed her, and began placing the other one to the base of her long, drooped ear.

A moment passed with them twiddling with the devices before Judy was both equipped and collected enough to take part in a vocal conversation. His arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him as he spoke into her ear: "It's not your fault, Fluff".

Judy pushed herself deeper and deeper into the fox's warm side for maximum solace. She could only mentally smile at this action. Back when she was a kit, her parents had taught her and her siblings about typical rabbit behavior, and apparently one of the few things her species did when distressed, was to feel extra close and even cuddly with a mammal dear to them, were it to be a family member, a friend or a…

Mate.

The word filled every corner of her mind, completely wiping away every last drop of grief, and caused her cheeks to heat up. For a second everything but Nick felt insignificant to her.

Yes, she'd thought of taking the final step and going all the way with him, but after tonight, she would probably have to reconsider if she was ready to do so. Her fox, if she was allowed to think that way, at least yet, had shown nothing but patience, which she found extremely reassuring and pressuring at the same time. Reassuring in the sense that she had all the time she needed to make up her mind, and he clearly cared for how she felt, but the fact that she would most likely have to be the one to make the first move also stressed her out, as she had no idea how to do so.

They sat there in silence for a good moment before Judy finally replied: "Yeah, I know. But doesn't it bother you at all? I mean what if my parents are like that douchebag?"

Happy with her current, more at ease state, Nick could relax himself too. "Woah, language there, Missy", he said teasingly and carefully shook her frame, engendering a small smile to form on her face. The red fox then sighed, continuing in a much more serious tone: "It does bother me. I just don't have what it takes to care too much. I know it sucks, but you can't change mammals' opinions on this stuff. And, honestly, I wouldn't worry about your parents".

"What do you mean?"

His free paw instinctively began wiping away the moisture accumulated onto her cheeks, and his tail found its way around her waist. "Well, first of all, based on what you've told me, it's pretty unlikely that they won't approve. Secondly, even if they won't, there's still no reason for us to break up. Unless you wan-", he was cut off by her elbow hitting his stomach with full force. "Ugh!"

Her voice was stern as she made her point clear: "Don't. Even. Think about it".

Nick couldn't help but chuckle at her, rubbing the soar spot of impact. He was beyond delighted that she was still fully committed in their relationship even after tonight. They stayed on the floor for a few more minutes, not talking, but embracing one another, and enjoying the warmth radiating from the other's body.

Eventually Judy shifted, or more like squirmed, to face him, smiling widely. Apparently the fox could really work miracles on her mood. She planted a quick kiss onto his lips and then spoke: "You want some tea before you go?"

His smirk grew ever so wider as he leaned closer to the other hearing aid. "Actually, the dinner wasn't all I had planned for tonight, and while I get that it was sort of a mood killer, there's still one way to make the night memorable. If you want to."

Her eyes widened, and for the first time since their leave from the restaurant, her ears shot up, the earpieces nearly popping out as they did so. "Do you mean… like… _that?_ "

He gave her a single nod and a clearly emphasized "Uhuh". "Again, we don't have to, if you're not ready."

Her shy response was not one of the many prohibitive ones he was, for some reason, waiting for in his mind: "You really want me to be your m-mate?"

Nick connected their noses, slightly damp meeting twitchy. He took a moment to form his feelings into coherent sentences, then spoke: "I thought it was obvious by this point, but if you want it spelled out, well, I love you, Judy. So ye-". He didn't have time to finish as the rabbit pressed her mouth against his.

"You better write that on paper later, Slick", was all she could mutter before her brain got lost into the hormone and passion filled moment along with the rest of her body.

Kissing him on the lips feverishly, the rabbit inched herself closer to his collapsed form on her knees, the red dress making the action frustratingly hard as it got pinned between her knees and the hardwood floor with every little 'step' she took. Never had she wanted something so much than she wanted Nick right now.

Her paws found their way around his neck just as the fox pushed his tongue - that yet again proved to be made out of something completely different than silver - into her mouth, either rounding around hers or the sensitive base of her buckteeth. He still tasted like the fancy piece of salmon he'd had at the restaurant earlier, a taste usually not appreciated by the bunny (being a vegetarian and all), but perfectly exotic for the moment. She matched the dancing of his tongue by a waltz of her own.

Tingles filled the depths of both of their stomachs as they simply stayed on the floor enjoying each other's presence, hugging one another just a little bit closer to get a better sample of the other's luring scent. Numerous sharp, desperate breaths were let out during the exchange as even their subconscious' were too occupied hungering for each other to care about breathing.

Nick's paws roamed around her small, soft character- particularly the lower half, his touch gentle and steady. This wasn't the case for Judy, who was basically shivering from the oh-so-wonderful intimacy. Letting go of the fox's thick winter coat on his neck, she hastily proceeded to unbutton his green blouse that blocked her view of his cream colored chest, eventually retreating from the kiss for a moment to better concentrate on the task.

Meanwhile Nick occupied himself with the exposed space between her neck and shoulder, showing affection through countless nibbles and licks. Feeling a bit adventurous in the heat of the moment, he opened up his mouth and bit down, very careful not to puncture the bunny's skin with his moderately sharp fangs. He'd had his suspicions of her finding his teeth and claws 'exciting in a way' ever since their fourth kiss (when he'd accidentally bit her tongue a little and she'd blushed harder than usual) but had never dared to ask about it. Fortunately the loud, wavering moan that left her as his teeth made contact with her body saved him from any uncertainty in the future.

He pulled his head back a little to look at her: she had both of her paws covering her mouth and her eyes were wide open. He put on his self-satisfied smirk, simply raising an eyebrow at her.

Judy had no idea whether or not she should feel embarrassed, but then again, there was going to be a lot more of where that came from if they were about to go through with this. "Umm… I uh-", she stammered, "-I might be a little noisy. I hope that's okay with you".

Nick's grin widened into a smile, and he shook his head slightly. He leaned closer to the ear equipped with a hearing aid and spoke in a reassuring tone: "Oh, that's fine. It's just a little weird for a cute little bunny to like getting ravished by a scary fox, isn't it?"

The rabbit in question smiled shyly. "Well, yeah, but it doesn't change the fact that it still feels nice."

"Believe me, Fluff, you don't know the half of it yet", Nick quipped with a wink, his paws finding their way on her dress' tiny zipper on the backside, which he then calmly pulled down,all the while examining her face as the piece of clothing loosened its hold on her.

She quickly realized what was happening and resumed to almost tear off the buttons of his shirt. The red dress fell to her knees, exposing most of her grey and white areas of relatively short fur that weren't covered by her non matching set composed of a white bra and deep purple panties. The expensive cloth was shook off by toned hind legs, whilst she finally managed to take off the green fabric that had practically taunted her.

Taking note of both of them having accomplished their goals, the red fox grabbed the rabbit's buttocks and stood up, leaning back first into the wall for support as he did. The two only departed from their tongue duel when Nick fell onto the bed beside them, Judy now laying on top of his chest with his paws still caressing her rump.

Not in a particular hurry, they kept enjoying the insides each other's mouths for just a few minutes longer, after which the vulpine again took control and rolled them around, now looming over her much smaller character. He felt his already tight jeans shrink even more, barely able to restrain himself from tearing them off at this point.

The fox took in the sight with the most appreciative of eyes, a tingly sensation at the bottom of his stomach that hadn't made its presence known in ages. With slow, controlled movements, his left paw let go of the rabbit's perfectly meaty part and began rubbing the mildly damp space between her legs in a tender manner.

Needless to say, this got another vocal sign of affection out of her, breaking their momentary kiss for a second or two. This wasn't the first time she'd let him touch her most intimate area, but that didn't take away any of the pure pleasure that his two claws provided as they ran along the underwear. None of her prior experiences compared to the thunderstorm of sensations she was undergoing.

Judy found herself completely lost, unable to form so much as a single coherent thought. All she could tell was that she loved her fox deeply, a feeling that he apparently returned, judging by the way his _everything_ was treating her _everything_ at the moment.

She wasn't allowed to enjoy his touch for much longer though, as the other of the two gadgets attached to the bases of her constantly fidgeting ears popped right out of its place and fell on the counterpane, seemingly not really designed for such a rough ride. Nick took note of this, picked it up with his free paw and held it in front of her face with a questioning expression, assured that she would get his point without the need for any words.

"But I want to hear you-", she paused, but soon realized that there was no avoiding the plausible embarrassment on this one. All she could do was to wish that Nick understood her. "-you know, make sounds… and stuff. You can't just leave me out on all the fun things", she finished pleadingly and stole the item from his paw in one quick motion.

The fox gave her a knowing smirk, and neared her mechanically assisted ear: "So you'd rather hear me moan for like fifteen minutes than pay how much? Over a thousand dollars to ever listen to my divine voice again. I know I don't have my diploma yet, but as far as I can tell, that's a terrible financial decision, Carrots. I'm seriously not sure if I should feel flattered or offended".

Despite his claws still hazing her thinking, she processed through his words with minor difficulty, coming to the conclusion that he was - unsurprisingly yet again – correct with his judgement. "Well can I at least get a little preview?"

He raised an eyebrow at her in a teasing manner. "Depends on wha-aaaoO-Oooohh, Juuudy", he all but cried in surprise as the rabbit lifted her knees and grabbed the bulge between his legs using them, biting her lower lip in anticipation as she did so. She was having her way, no matter how witty he was going to be in the meantime.

The sound Nick produced was very much as she'd imagined it to be, higher than usual and gushing with pleasure. Still, it managed to increase the speed of the blood running through her veins, and more importantly, the building up tension below her faded belly button- by a bunch. That is not to mention the fact that she'd just basically made physical contact with a male's - and not just any male's - erect member for the first time in her life. Or the little detail that he'd just called her by her real name for the second time in the past twelve minutes already.

"There, that wasn't too hard, was it? Now if you could be so nice and add a quick growl, so we could continue with the more interesting part already", she quipped in an overly informal tone, examining his mostly amusingly shocked form as she reached for his throat.

Nick swallowed once, surprised by her forwardness considering her inexperience, though not at all disappointed. "Sly bunny", he stated rather proudly, cleared his throat and after a short, teasing break, gave her one of the loudest growls of his life, his muzzle in a slight snarl just for an added effect. After all, it wasn't too often that he got to express himself this way in his day to day life. He eyed her for a reaction.

Judy looked as if she'd just gone through an earthquake, which the experience had actually felt like to her. It had sounded nothing like his normal calm, caring and naturally smug voice that already made up nearly a third of all the audio she'd perceived throughout her whole life, but instead a low, raw and most of all hostile grumble. Her horizontally perked-up ears began straight up burning as her mind integrated the sound to some of the upcoming events.

But before she could fall too deep into the images forming inside of her head, she felt the remaining earpiece leave her ear canal, and took note of both of them being placed onto the table next to the pair. The very next thing she knew was two of Nick's middle claws find their way around the purple fabric that covered her swelling lower parts and enter her, sending thousands upon thousands of nerves into an outright frenzy.

A sudden sensation of need and desire filled her whole body in an instant. All she could do was to respond to the all too brief kiss sent her way, and relish in the feeling of her _mate_ pleasing her, paws attached to his cream colored chest fur with a tight grip.

Using only his unoccupied appendage, Nick reached behind her back to detach the final piece of clothing off her stunningly beautiful natural character, having to dig under her a bit to achieve his goal. She was too dazed to even comprehend what was going on by the looks of it. A few failed attempts later, his full weeks' worth of late night practical training sessions back on the streets proved useful, and the hook and eye closure came undone. He threw the white cloth aside, admiring her white and grey posture with his grateful eyes that spoke perfection. Judy's breasts were not all that big (just like most other mammals'), but the smooth curves and wider than usual hips below them definitely made up on that front- or should one say back. It didn't stop him from touching or even licking them either, which he obviously continued to do throughout the rest of the foreplay.

Nick began panting not long after, his arousal having become far too much for his body to ignore anymore despite still wanting to watch the bunny squirm under his touch. He ceased the stimulation, raised himself onto his knees, gave Judy an exaggerated wiggle of his eyebrows and began unbuckling his brown, fake leather belt.

This was the first time he'd ever seen her with one ear perked and the other floppy, her expression both anticipating and nervous as she ogled at his paws, which now worked on the jeans' button in an almost strip tease fashion.

"Could you be any slower?" she spat, frustrated by his clearly intentional sloth pace. It took her no longer than two seconds to realize her mistake as his grin turned devilish and his movements stopped completely. She shot him a glare, and soon the pants lay on the floor, leaving the fox in nothing but his black and navy blue striped boxers shaped like a tent.

Nick fell back onto all fours and approached his mate's nose with that of his own, ultimately bumping into it. He gave the little pink button a small peck and lifted his gaze to meet her confused eyes, an inquiring look plastered onto his muzzle as he waited for a final permission to claim her as his.

There was no way he would rush her if she felt uncomfortable.

After all, this was a big step to take.


	12. The morning after

The white, plate shaped alarm clock on the table next to the tiny, wooden framed bed, which was occupied by two sleeping, serene looking forms, began slowly lighting up, continuing to do so until the point where it was impossible to ignore. The greenish, digital numbers displayed the time as 6.15 a.m.

Both of the, somewhat spooning, mammals writhed in the sheets, the alarm ultimately cutting their natural sleep cycles short. Judy's paw searched the tabletop half consciously, and after a few failed attempts, managed to hit the button to shut the light, letting the soothing darkness take total control of the room once more. On normal days, she would've gotten up without so much as a yawn, but for some reason her body absolutely refused to do so this Sunday morning.

The chance of her drifting back to unconsciousness was more than likely, if it wasn't for a mildly stinging pain radiating from her rump and tingling her spine for a portion of second, awakening all of her senses in an instant. The memories from the previous night flooded her mind, and putting two and two together, she shifted herself to get a clear view behind her. Well, _clear_ was an overstatement considering it was pitch black.

Sure enough, her eyes were met with the outline of a toothy, although exhausted grin presented by a certain fox. She tried her hardest to look unamused, but simply couldn't hide the sliver of a smile forming onto her muzzle. Her words were meant to sound scolding, but instead came out as excited more than anything: "Don't use your claws, jerk."

Nick's response consisted of a half done smile, visibly snorting and playfully blowing air into her face, making her snicker a little. Now completely rid of the lassitude, Judy tried to, much against her own will, leave the one armed embrace, the result of the action being his other arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her delicate, half naked frame into the soft fur of his chest: he was enjoying her physical presence far too much to let her go so soon.

"Come on, Nick!" she barked with no apparent will for her cause in her tone, now attempting to push herself away from him, but ending up being pulled in an even tighter hug. There was no way Judy could escape his hold without him allowing it. "My shift starts at eight, and my boss isn't the most forgiving mammal I know", she added matter-of-factly, already aware that the fox would probably just ignore her.

Which he did.

At the note of his eyelids closing, but the fatigued smirk not fading away, the rabbit finally stopped resisting and sighed in not-at-all-bitter defeat. "Fine. Five minutes. But not a single second longer", came the submission as she got comfortable and let her mate hold her against him.

After quite literally feeling the expected, approving grunt, Judy concentrated all of her willpower to stay awake for the remaining four minutes and fifty-two seconds of contentment, knowing that Nick would definitely not wake her up if she'd fall asleep. Despite her senses being at the ready after the vulpine's little trick a few moments ago, the rest of her body still felt exhausted from both only getting about six hours of rest and the 'exercise' that came before that.

The whole ordeal had been very comparable to the skating experience on their first date, now that she thought about it. They had started off slow and careful with Nick guiding her through the process as he was the more experienced one out of the two. It had taken both of them some time to get adjusted to the other's body, and understandably, due to the size difference, there had been some pain along the way too. However, in this case, they hadn't felt the need to quit because of that.

And the fun hadn't stopped there. After the deed was done, Nick had been the first one to hit the shower, but Judy, being a rabbit and all, hadn't felt like she was quite done yet. So, much to the Nick's surprise, she had sneaked into the bathroom, and they had gone another round. Needless to say, neither of them had stayed awake for too long after that time.

All in all, it had been a pleasant evening for the both members of the pair.

Now pretty much nuzzling the lighter in color and a bit puffier fur of his chest, and inhaling their mixed scents, Judy could only smile in content at the thought of how much her life had changed for the better in only a matter of weeks. She had gone through so many amazing, new sensations in such a short timespan after meeting the red fox she now loved. Before he had entered her life, she had been completely satisfied with how things were going. _'Being satisfied is terrible'_ , Judy thought to herself, taking in as many details of her mate as she could, committing them to her memory for a later use.

Two or three more minutes passed as the fox's breathing picked up a calm, steady pace, and the grin plastered onto his face tardily evaporated into thin air. Eventually taking note of this (whilst fiddling with the blazing orange fur on the side of his neck), the bunny gave him a final lenient smile, gracefully lifted his limp arms, and made her exit without disturbing him at all.

* * *

A loud sizzling noise took over the small kitchen area as Judy cracked and poured two eggs onto the burning hot ceramic pan. She had luckily found a few leftover ones from the very back of her fridge, knowing that her effort of fixing them both breakfast would most definitely not go unappreciated by the still dormant fox. Her brain made an almost automatic mental note to start buying more protein rich foodstuffs in the future.

Having already prepped the salad and gone through the rest of her morning routine earlier, well, everything but deciding what to wear- she was still in her usual panties-tank top-sleep wear combo, all that was left to do was to wait for the eggs to finish. She figuratively gave herself a pat on the back for being much ahead of her schedule despite Nick holding her captive for a good moment. One happy sigh and a motion of shaking the pan, so that they wouldn't have to consume scorched produce, later, her gaze began drifting around the room, first focusing on the back wall window on her left.

The little view her apartment had onto the surrounding streets was, surprise, surprise, filled with snow. Based on the clothing of the minuscule figures of the few mammals, who were already up and walking, the morning wasn't too cold though. The sun had already risen enough to paint the thousands and thousands of falling snowflakes with its golden rays. It had taken Judy many weeks to get mostly used to the chilly, artificial climate, not to mention the fact that most buildings were literally made out of ice, but now she couldn't imagine having it in any other way.

The next object her eyes locked on was the kitchen table, and more specifically, the phone that lied screen down on it. She had no clue why, but the idea of calling her parents right then and there crossed her mind, leaving her stare at the device hesitantly. Yesterday's events had made the task seem much less impossible, especially Nick's reassurance, but there was still a nagging thought of all the things that could go wrong stuck inside her head.

Basically her mind was running through what felt like a million what-if-situations, mainly concentrating on the worst possible ones which was typical for her to do when making an important decision. She really wanted to get the conversation out of the way, but at the same time, was comfortable with not having it in the first place. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option.

The rabbit flipped the white and yellow mass on the pan onto its undone side after struggling for a moment, and turned off the heat, since both the pan and the stove were hot enough to do the rest of the cooking by themselves. Her legs felt weak as she floundered towards the small table, attempting to build up a mental citadel of confidence where she would be safe from anything that was to come in the following five to ten minutes. The materials she used to do this might as well been used pieces of chewing gum and nonexistent hope based on the stability of said fortress.

Both her breath and heart picked up their pace as her paw grabbed the mobile and drew a zigzag pattern to unlock the lock screen, using nothing but muscle memory to do so. The word nervous was nowhere near enough to describe how she felt. Her lungs filled with a final deep breath whilst she was searching for her mother's number from her contacts. Her plan was to only tell her mother, and let her then inform her dad, as she didn't want to see him get a heart attack at the news of his daughter dating a natural enemy. Thankfully it was exactly seven a.m., so he would already be working anyways.

After pulling her paw away from the 'Call' button more than a couple times and fighting the urge of simply returning to cooking, her thumb finally hit the green circle located at the bottom middle of the screen. A photo of her mother instantly popped up, and her mind entered the so called 'run for your life, the world is about to end any second now' mode. She had to use every last drop of her remaining calmness to stay put in the chair, and not run back into bed and hide behind Nick. _'Maybe I should've had him here for support'_ , she thought, blankly staring at the mobile, praying to some higher power that her mother would be busy with her siblings at the moment.

Her prayers were never answered. She watched as the picture of the older bunny switched to a high quality video feed featuring the same mammal as in the photo, wearing the same pink dress, the same fond smile and the very same caring attitude by the looks of it. Judy could instantly recognize the background filled with couches and other types of seats; the main building's living room. Around ten pairs of ears belonging to younger rabbits peeked from the bottom of the screen, their respective owners clearly spying on the call.

Her mother set her own phone on a table and took a few steps back so that Judy could see all of her paw gestures. _'Hi, Bun Bun! What makes you call so early?"_ she signed.

Judy broke out of her anxious trance and quickly blurted out a flat "Oh, hi, Mom" at the sight of the older mammal staring at her expectantly. There was no turning back now. "Umm… Nothing special really. I just wanted to keep you guys updated on this one… thing." She let out an awkward laugh, and then continued: "Dad's out on the field, right?"

Bonnie gave her daughter a suspicious glance. _'Like usual. I can go get him if you want to. I'm sure he would be delighted to see you.'_

Judy turned down the suggestion in an extra reactive manner: "Oh, no, no, no, you don't have to. It's fine. I actually don't have too much time anyway".

It goes without saying that this made her mother raise an eyebrow at her. _'Sweetie, is everything alright?'_

She stayed quiet for a second or two, clearing out her thoughts, lowering her gaze to meet the tabletop. After coming up with a good enough of a way to explain everything on the spot, the younger rabbit calmed her nerves with a drawn-out sigh, and spoke: "Yeah. Better than alright. That's actually what I wanted to tell you about".

' _What is it?'_

"You know how you keep telling me to go out on a date with some boyfriend material buck all the time?" she rhetorically asked, let the corners of her lips curl into a sliver of a smile, and raised her head back up to look at the screen. "Well… you don't have to do that anymore", she shyly finished.

Bonnie looked like she was about burst from a mixture of cheer, joy and slight shock. Her mouth was agape, her eyes widened, her nose twitching as if there was no tomorrow, but the rest of her body still remained motionless. She shook it off rather quickly though, but before she could move her paws to respond, an even deeper state of emotions, caused by something very different than the prior good news, consumed her.

At the sight of her mother completely freezing, and, oddly, all the ears surrounding her dropping simultaneously, Judy proceeded with her little coming-clean-speech, feeling a little more confident: "Yeah, shocking, right? Anyways, there's one thing you should know though".

The older rabbit's movements were extremely slow. Judy took note of her gaze aiming over her head, but didn't think much of it, as making direct eye contact in video chats was practically impossible. Her mother's lips moved in rhythm with her arms as she signed: _'He… is… a fox?'_

Time stopped and Judy's world collapsed on her, as she felt something moist make contact with the top of her head, and a weight being placed on the same spot, right between her drooped ears, shortly after. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest, beating harder, and faster, than any heavyweight boxer ever could. She didn't even have to check if Nick had his complacent look on or not. "Umm… Mom, this is Nick. He's… He's my… uh-" the word got stuck in her throat, and as she was choking on it, the red fox resting his head on hers began setting up one of her hearing aids onto the base of her left ear.

Nick had woken up to the smell of something cooking over ten minutes earlier, but hadn't gotten up until hearing her talk alone in the kitchen. It hadn't been difficult for him to figure out what she had been doing, and after a moment of hesitation (mainly because he was still in only his underwear), he had decided to make his entrance.

Done with twiddling with the earpiece, Nick could finally save the elderly bunny from her daughter's incoherent muttering: "I think what Cottontail here is trying to say is that I'm her mate". He received a timid, confirming nod from the mammal underneath his chin, and a beyond perplexed glare from the one behind the screen. "Nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Hopps. I've heard nothing but great things about you and your husband".

A thick cloud of silence and pure tension filled both ends of the call, his comment ending up going completely ignored. Judy, much like her mother, had pretty much turned into stone after the kiss Nick had planted on her head. Eventually though, Bonnie managed to swallow the huge lump, which had formed in her gullet, and arrange her following words into an actual sentence. _'We'll be there at six. Make sure your friend will be joining us.'_

The screen went black before either of them could react.


	13. Doomsday

"Yeah, that's great, Finn, but I seriously can't make it today."

Nick sat alone on Judy's single, plushie covered bed, leaning against the wallpapered surface behind him, pinching the bridge of his long muzzle in frustration. The search for an apartment was the least of his worries at the moment. Maybe it was because of spending the last few hours around the nervous wreck that was the grey rabbit currently working on some veggie wraps in the kitchen, or seeing how vague her mother's reaction had been in the morning, but something had definitely drained every last drip of the confidence he had in meeting two perfectly normal, loving parents throughout the day.

A deep, loud and, most of all, pissed off voice echoed from the phone in the red fox's paw in response, slightly garbled by the poor connection between the two: "You fuckin' kidding me, Nick? I finally find a good place that we can actually afford and you won't even fucking show up to check it out?"

The addressee of the comment let out a succinct sigh that told the fennec much more than the actual reply: "Look, I'm in the middle of something more important right now, and believe me, there's no way I can bail out of this. Besides, I doubt that the apartment's going to be sold over night. Just text me the address and I'll go see it the first thing tomorrow, alright? Thanksloveyoubaegottagobye".

He hung up the call before Finnick could even process what he had said, feeling a wave of moderate relief wash over him as he did so. The smaller fox had been on the hunt for a perfect residence ever since Nick had informed him of the two becoming roommates over two weeks ago, sometimes spending multiple hours per day going through apartment listings with the help of their old estate agent friend Frankie the wolf. No matter how hard the fennec denied it, Nick knew that he was eager to move out of the busted up van, and have a place to really call home.

Of course he was beyond grateful for his friend's effort, especially since the whole mess was his to clean up, but this wasn't the time to get distracted by good news. After all, he was only minutes away from either making hundreds of new family relationships, or being skinned alive and have his fur made into a rug.

His light blue jeans and pale white shirt rustled against the rough fabric of the counterpane as he got off the bed and stood up. The past few weeks had had a clear effect on his wardrobe: his everyday clothes had, much to his own disbelief, finally changed from comfy to stylish. This, like most other things regarding dating, hadn't happened without expenses though. The dozen or so dates the two had gone on so far had the most certainly taken a much larger toll on his now little savings than he had initially thought. At this rate he would have to get an honest job in no time- not that he hadn't already been on the lookout for one recently.

Taking a final anxious glance at the time displayed on his phone before slipping the device back into the depths of his left pocket with minor struggle, Nick walked over to the kitchen doorway, wishing to get a chance to catch the mammal on the other side of the wall off guard. Startling Judy by seemingly just appearing right behind her had become one of his favorite things to do whenever she was busy with something else. Sure enough, the rabbit had her back pointed towards the room's only entry, completely unaware that Nick was slowly approaching her with the smooth and cautious movements of a predator about to catch his prey.

His playful attitude died down in an instant after paying more attention to her uncharacteristic posture though. She was hunched over the sink, her arms supporting the majority of her weight against the hardwood countertop, head and tail hanging low, ears drooped behind her back, her tiny frame completely motionless and straight up radiating melancholy. Not even her bright outfit -neon salmon, black spotted shirt and the usual black jeans- could lighten the room around her. The view might as well been used for a foreshadowing movie scene.

Instead of going further with his original, wicked gig, Nick replaced his forced smirk with a slight frown and moved over to the remaining ruins of the usually chirpy bunny, adjusting the angle of his faint shadow to meet her lowered vision as he calmly strolled so that she could tell he was there. She didn't react in any way though.

The fox closed the gap between them and pulled the smaller mammal into a one-sided embrace, feeling her decompress remarkably at his touch. He craned closer to the base of her right ear, which was already equipped with one of her two hearing aids, and spoke in a purposely overdone, loud, somewhat comforting and, most of all, sarcastic tone: "Hey, I realize you didn't have much to work with, but the guacamole couldn't turn out that bad".

The comment elicited a subconscious snort from the imprisoned Judy, but failed to lighten the atmosphere enough to get her talking. Not receiving a clear response, but knowing exactly what the problem was- or at least thinking he did, Nick's, now much more soothing, voice filled the eery space again: "Hey, don't be like that, Carrots. We already went over this, didn't we? There's nothing to be worried about".

Her panicky reply came out in under half a second, the presentation of it reminding Nick more of an objection used in court than in this situation: "They've never done this, Nick!" She hastily yanked herself free from the hug and turned to face her capturer, who in return decided to take a careful step back and give her some space to breathe: she was clearly not in the mood to play around- at all. "Do you even realize how much work it causes for my parents to be able to leave the Burrows? It's always planned months ahead if either of them is going to be away for even a single day" she explained whilst running her small claws through the grey fur located on the top and the back of her head. Her foot was practically thumping a hole into the flooring at this point. "They _never_ leave, unless it's necessary."

No amount of self-convincing or arguing could save Nick from internally agreeing with her point. However, it was her following statement that set his ultimate expectations for the upcoming, slightly gloomy evening. "Nick", Judy began, her words sounding as if she was buried in a coffin made of her worst nightmares under fifteen feet of pure stress: "I'm scared".

There was something off in the way she talked, but the awkwardly stagnant fox couldn't possibly put his mind around it, and try to hide his own growing nervosity from the glassy-eyed bunny ogling silent cries of help at him, at the same time.

Nick took the required two small steps to once again reach the soft, moody mass, and pulled it back into his shirt, disregarding its mostly futile struggling. His hold tightened more and more as she made her best attempts at leaving it; his arms resembled an anaconda wrapping around its victim, and patiently squeezing every molecule of oxygen out of the their lungs. He knew that letting her go now would only result in a worse breakdown than the last one. "You're sending out some really mixed messages, Fluff" he remarked half-jokingly, hardly able to target the shout at the long, at-the-ready appendage due to her resistance.

His voice had the wanted effect as the realization of her kit-like demeanor hit her, weakening the still on-going, but ineffective shoves and punches. Her corneas covered with salty moisture, Judy finally gave up fighting the red fox, and instead burrowed her head into his stomach, calming her ragged breath by inhaling the air filled with his familiar scent. She didn't even know why she had fought him in the first place.

A pair of quiet sobs left her mouth, which was enough to tell Nick that she was both sorry for her not-so-little, physical outburst, and unable to talk for a moment. He was rather confused by her behavior, but not offended or hurt in the slightest, for he knew how terrible it felt to be completely vulnerable. Unleashing one's feelings was more than understandable in a situation such as this one. That didn't mean he couldn't, or wouldn't, tease her about it, though. "Geez, you bunnies. So emotional."

The sobs died down with each passing second as Judy felt her worries shrinking at the contiguity of her mate. He was still there for her, wearing that smug-screaming grin of his, reluctant to leave her side despite the circumstances. Her cheeks lifted the cotton they were pressed into the tiniest bit as her lips curled into a small smile. Now much more collected than a minute ago, her brain could regain control of her vocal chords, and transform her thoughts into audible syllables. "What did I ever do to deserve someone like you?" came the heartfelt and extremely corny comment, muffled to the point of being barely coherent.

Nick knew that the question was rhetoric, but still felt the need to answer it: a little wooing couldn't do any harm right now. "You mean besides be the most amazing mammal in the-"

 ** _Knock_** _,_ _ **knock**_ _, knock, knock._

His head immediately snapped to the kitchen entrance, the rest of his just as cheesy rejoinder ending up stuck in his windpipe. Judy took notice of his not even remotely subtle flinch, and detached her face from his torso, wiping away the last drips of water still left under her eyes. Her gaze drifted on his inanimate face before locking on the same doorway as he was staring at. Realizing what must've happened, she quickly tugged on his shirt, succeeding in catching his attention. "You ready?"

Nick had to force his head to perform a convincing nod, trying to maintain a calm look. He sighed inwards, preparing himself for whatever was to come for the final time. The rabbit returned the nod with one of her own, clearly going through the same process of last second self-convincing as he was. _'C'mon, Nick. It's not like you're going to war or something. They're just two country bunnies. You've dealt with waaaay worse before. You can do this.'_

Holding each other's paws, the two walked swiftly out of the small kitchen, and took a left turn, approaching the apartment's wooden front door with every step, which there were very few, by the way. Once close enough, the red fox let go of his mate's limb, and took the lead, letting her know that he would be the one to open the gateway to their possible horrors. She didn't seem to have a problem with it as her footsteps stopped a few feet behind him.

 ** _KNOCK, knock, knock._**

This was it.

Nick grabbed the cold, metallic handle, and twisted it, hearing the murmuring behind the door fade out as he pulled it open with an audible creak. A contrived, yet believable smile on his muzzle, he witnessed the two elderly bunnies enter his field of view, both of them stunned half to death by the looks of it- maybe even more so. The fox reached out his paw, and spoke in the friendliest, most non-threatening manner he could: "Hi! Nick Wilde, nice to finally meet you both".

More than a few seconds passed with all four mammals simply standing rigid, either waiting for something to happen, or fighting away shock with wide open eyes and mouths. Eventually Nick saw Stu shake his head gingerly, and return to reality, much to his delight. The old buck began raising his right paw to meet the much bigger one, but instead passed it, and pointed it at the fox's expectant face.

It didn't take Nick much longer to realize what the rabbit was holding, or just how the evening would go down.

A thick, reddish cloud of 'Fox Away' left the pink spray bottle before he could so much as shut his eyes, resulting in the pepper mixture landing right on target. An excruciating stinging sensation immediately took over his snout as the spray made contact with the skin hidden under his thick fur, quickly followed by the same substance filling his nose, and making it very hard for him to breathe. His head could've as well been stuck inside a furnace.

Judy watched in horror as the vulpine stumbled backwards covering his eye sockets with his paws. Even she could very faintly make out the cold shriek that left her mate's mouth as he fell onto his knees, and curved his back, his whole sleek frame twitching furiously. Her gaze rose to meet her parents, who were already hurrying inside the apartment and past the crumbled mass on the floor. They were flailing their arms in the air, but she didn't care what they were trying to say at all. She wasn't too pleased about their reaction- to put it mildly.

Although her mind was running in circles, her feet still managed to hastily carry her back to the kitchen and over to the fridge located in the room's back right corner. She subconsciously remembered water being inefficient against oil based mixtures since it didn't contain any grease, so her paws grabbed a half full carton of soy milk, and slammed the door shut. The rabbit sidestepped to deliver the aid, only to bump into her mother's, all-too-familiar, pink sundress. Her parents had unsurprisingly followed her, and were now acting as a roadblock of unnecessary and, most of all, unwanted fostering. Their paws were still going crazy, which only smothered her more.

Fighting the urge to just collapse, and close herself from the rest of the world, Judy vigorously pushed herself through the two other, apparently very ignorant bunnies, slapping away his father's paw with a little more force than she had intended as he tried to stop her by grabbing her by the shoulder. She ran the rest of the way back to the snarling and internally screaming fox, and bent down next to him. Her mouth opened multiple times, meaning to tell him to get up and head for the bathroom to avoid a mess, but nothing came up. It was like she had totally forgotten how to speak.

Not wanting to keep Nick waiting for a second longer, she dismissed the fact as being a result of extreme stress messing with her brain, which it actually was, and helped him stand up. The pair wobbled to the tiny shower space, the fox finally letting go of his bloodshot eyes to take a blurry look at Judy, and let her guide him by the paw. Yes, he was still in physical pain, but it was nothing compared to knowing how she must've felt right then and there. Once placed inside the preferred area, he was handed the container of white liquid, and felt his shirt being pulled off with major struggle; an act that he finished for her to get rid of the endless wasp stings and stuffed airways as quickly as possible.

The red fox bent himself forward, and poured the milk all over his face, wary of the fact that he would have to be restrained over the little amount that was left, but simply not caring. The relief wasn't immediate or thorough at all, but still made him feel as if he had entered heaven.

Judy watched his gestures become more at ease, and took a long, inwards sigh of temporary tranquility, feeling her heart slow down its rapid beating. Her brain could function properly again. "I- I'm so sorry, Nick", she began, right at the brink of crying. "Are- are you ok?"

Nick glanced at her with a distinctive nod and a countenance that could only be described as apologetic before returning to clean himself up, now letting water wash off all of the remaining soy milk stuck on his coat. He wasn't sure if he could just walk back out of the bathroom and spend the rest of her parents' stay being his normal, casual self, or if he would stay at the apartment at all.

With a determined snort, Judy shifted herself, and headed for the door, which she had locked earlier. It was time to confront the main antagonists of the evening. Her paw turned the handle, and pulled the barricade between the two pairings open, all the while uttering in a harsh tone: "What were you guys thinking?!"

She was greeted by a sight of two older mammals stop pacing back and forth the main room in a search for some sort of evidence, and concentrate on her presence, ears drooped behind their backs. Unlike earlier, they both seemed much more cautious of talking, most likely due to a lack of a rational answer. Bonnie was the first one to sign the most obvious question, ignoring her daughter's own one, a similar concerned expression as that of her husband's printed on her muzzle: _'Who is-'_

Cutting her mother off, Judy could barely hold back her temper. "Mom, you already know that. He's my mate", she quickly faced her father, who couldn't have looked more shocked, to both not get stuck on _that_ specific subject, and deliver her next, accusatory line. "And I don't recall family ever being greeted with frigging pepper spray!"

Stu's look changed into a beyond disputing one. _'He's a fox, Jude. Not family."_

"And what part does his species play exactly?" she retorted, her argument standing on a very thin layer of ice even in her own head.

' _You know how they are.'_

Oh, was she glad that the fox behind the thin wall couldn't hear that one.

"Oh, right. I'm sure if you wouldn't have brought that thing over, he would've already eaten us all alive", she said, pointing to the plastic can still in the grasp of her father, maximizing the amount of disappointment in her tone. "How can you even say that, when you're partnered with Gideon, and haven't so much as spoken to Nick?"

Bonnie stepped in once again, rescuing her husband from being completely outsmarted, more than frustrated with the situation. _'Please tell me you're joking, Judy! You're only throwing away your future for a relationship assured to fail!'_

"I'm willing to take the chances", the younger doe stubbornly replied, gaining more confidence with every counter she came up with.

' _Don't you understand what mammals will think of you? How they'll treat you?'_

"Yeah, I do, but I don't care. Besides, I think we got a prime example of that about five minutes ago, didn't we?"

Her mother visibly grunted, considering if their little 'rescue plan' had indeed crossed too many lines. She didn't have much time to think about it though, since the door behind her daughter slowly creaked open, and revealed the singular problem of her day and quite possibly the rest of her life by the looks of it. All four mammal's centered their gazes on the fox, Judy doing so after seeing her parents stare over her.

A shirtless Nick stepped out of the tile-floored room, and closed the door behind him, taking note of the ambiance stiffening mildly. He held the white piece of clothing in the air, an awkward grin on his recovering face. "I uh… got some of that stuff on this, and I don't feel like tearing myself dry, so if you don't mind, I'll go half naturalist for the moment", he patiently spelled out using his usual tone, testing the ice before having the courage to leap onto it.

Seeing the married couple nod in a bashful and reserved manner, and a small, confidential smile form on his mate's muzzle, he tossed the shirt into the nearby corner next to the front door. "So-", his voice broke the unbearable silence as he rested his head between Judy's ears, still trying to figure out how far he could go before he'd fall off the cliff, "-I believe you have some questions?"

Stu was far from amused by the view, which definitely showed in his voice. "Who are you?"

"Oh, that's an easy one", he joked, receiving nothing but death glares from the crowd. "Let's see… I'm an innocent 32-year-old business student from her college. My past occupations include an ice cream shop owner and a building material supplier, to name a few. Umm… my favorite food is seabass, though I only have it on the weekends. I have a terrible taste for humor, aaand… oh, I'm also her boyfriend slash mate, as has been mentioned a hundred times before."

Stu's eyes lowered to meet Judy's, confused by the reply. _'He's eight years older than you?'_

"Well, relatively we're the same age, since they tend to outlive us", she snappily replied, only having realized that about a week ago herself.

"Yep. Anything else?" Nick spoke again, happy to have some amount of control over the conversation and not getting verbally pounded on. However, the fact that her parents were able to practically ignore him at any point by using sign did scare him: he'd have to start learning it himself at some point in the near future.

Bonnie's mouth and paws moved rapidly as she changed the topic: "How many know of you two?"

"We've only told you and a few close friends, and are planning to keep it that way. At least for now."

"So, your own family doesn't know?"

Nick felt a rusty nail puncture his heart, but kept his calm posture. He shook his head and let out a flat "No".

A silence conquered the apartment, both pairings simply standing uncomfortably, and waiting for someone to make an initiative. An eternity of staring, and timidly avoiding said stares by absentmindedly inspecting the floor passed, before Nick had ordered his next words into sentences that summed up his thoughts as well as possible. "Look-", he began, highlighting the tint of sincerity in his voice, "-I know you don't like what we have going on, or that I didn't give you the best first impression, but I still love her, and am not leaving her- no matter what. So the way I see-".

Judy timidly interrupted him, completely oblivious to him speaking due to his low and calm volume, and the fact that he had lifted his head off of hers right before beginning his rant: "I made some wraps if you want to stay for dinner".

He couldn't help but grin. "The way I see it, is either you walk away and pretend I don't even exist, or you do as Fluff suggested and give us a chance to talk this out", he finished, pulling her closer into him.

The elderly Hopps' exchanged stiff looks.


	14. Looking around

Nick and Finnick sat in the latter one's van, driving through the quiet, icy streets of southwestern Tundratown, their destination 31 Snowcastle Lane. It was early into the evening since Nick had delayed his visit to their potential future apartment in order to hear his friend's opinion, but also to avoid walking. Finnick hadn't been too delighted of losing a plenty slice of his free time, but hadn't needed too much persuasion to comply.

"So they just left?" the surprised fennec inquired, taking occasional glimpses at the other mammal occupying the passenger seat on his right.

"Yeah. I bet they just need time to think", came the absentminded reply.

"An' how'd she react?" Finnick continued, trying to keep the rather interesting small talk alive.

Nick turned his head to have a good look at him. "Oh, she did three backflips, and went skydiving", he sarcastically stated. "What do you think?"

The smaller fox simply grunted, fully understanding the hint. There was a short pause filled with nothing but the sound of the motor desperately fighting its age to keep running before he continued: "Man, I woulda ripped that buck's tail off, if I was you".

Nick's gaze focused back on the rearview mirror. "'Cause that would've helped a lot. Besides, I'm pretty sure he'll apologize for it sooner or later", he responded, thinking back to the moment of getting sprayed. He'd analyzed the whole yesterday night tens upon tens of times in his head, but still hadn't managed to come to a proper conclusion if he was safe from another offensive (in both senses of the word) assault or not.

Judy had wanted to 'discuss' the topic further with her parents tonight, but he'd opposed against it. It was better not to try to force the idea of them as a couple down the bunnies' throats- at least not yet. The best way to go about the situation was to simply wait.

An amused snort brought him back to reality, followed by the expected deep voice shortly after: "I still can't believe you fucked a rabbit".

Nick let a smile consume his muzzle, and put on a jocular tone: "It wasn't half bad either. Kinda gawky though."

"Better than Jess?"

"With some practice, yeah."

"You mind if I let the bitch know?" Finnick puckishly asked, giving the red fox a _'you know you want to'_ kind of look.

Nick wasn't sure what to say- his feelings towards his former mate were extremely mixed. They'd broken up after he'd caught her cheating after over thirteen months of dating, and yet he still hadn't completely gotten over her to this day- one of the many side effects of the urge to mate for life. Needless to say, the event had left the two on very bad terms.

However, as he thought about it some more, this was the perfect chance to move on. He'd found something, actually no, _someone_ much better for his future than he'd ever had, so what was the point in dreading the past? His brain compressed his sentiments into a ball of coherent words, which his mouth then passed to the other mammal: "Not at all as long as you do it in front of Matthew".

The driver seat shook as the tiny fox let out a not-so-subtle chuckle, happy to hear the exact thing he'd wanted to. "Wouldn't have it any other way", he managed to blurt out before being struck by a wave of hard coughs, sending the van into a slight swaying motion.

Nick grinned at his friend's self-caused condition, feeling the unnecessary need to notify him of it, just like he always did "You really should quit smoking, you know? You're not going to make it to your fifties on that pace".

"It ain't your body, shithead", Finnick quickly retorted before returning to coughing up his tar filled lungs. Once he'd caught his breath, the interrogation resumed. "You shriek at any point?" he nonchalantly asked, only realizing how intrusive the question was after it had left his mouth. Thank heavens the thousands of hours spent in front of a poker table had taught him the art of acting as lifeless as a rock.

The larger one of the two shot him a look spiced with reproach and uncertainty, not to his surprise. "Umm… Why do you need to know exactly?" he half muttered.

The fennec gave him a teasing smirk, buying himself some more time to find a roundabout way to explain, or at least play off, his brain fart. He shrugged and focused on maintaining his countenance whilst talking: "Just wondering if I should start plannin' on a bachelor party".

The 'joke' seemed to work as Nick lost most of his cautious attitude, and turned back to stare out the window, suddenly catching himself thinking of the deaf bunny wrapped in an expensive, white cloth- for the second time this day. It had been difficult enough for him to concentrate on lectures before she'd showed up in his life. Last month's final exams hadn't been too easy either.

He wasn't complaining though.

"I, uh-", he mumbled quietly, finding it rather odd that he was indeed sharing this specific fact with anyone else than his mate. "I did. Shriek", he awkwardly stated, cursing at his mind for bringing up mental images of the moment he'd done so. He'd really have to work on some self-control. "I mean, I don't think she knows though, considering how she's deaf and stuff. And even if she did, she probably didn't understand what it meant."

Finnick looked surprised by the response, although not because of the content of it, but the fact that he'd actually received one. His eyes stayed on the final stretch of the icy street as he spoke: "You gonna tell her 'bout it?"

"Nah, not yet. I'm pretty sure there's going to be a time when I actually need something like that to save my ass", Nick replied, watching their destination grow closer every passing second. They pulled into the small parking lot located right in front of the fifty-story-tall building, and exited the busted up vehicle.

A row of eight similar looking, albeit different sized, constructions stood in front of the two petite looking foxes, the third one from the left being their target. The red fox quickly scanned the façade, already understanding why the place fell on the range of their budget. The buildings were all simple cubes shaped out of ice; their sole purpose to provide somewhat of a cover from the wind and a place to sleep at.

"Whaddya think?" came the curious, self-satisfied voice from the other side of the van.

"It's got electricity and running water, right?" Nick asked, a fair amount of doubt noticeable in his tone.

The fennec gave him an unamused expression and began walking over to the front entrance; a square shaped opening in the middle of the ground floor with no door of any kind. "We ain't primal, fuckface."

They made their way past the thick, light bluish walls, and entered the broad corridor, which led to the stairs all the way back on the other side of the building. There were numerous dark, wooden doors on both sides of the two mammals, one floor seemingly comprising of six total flats.

"No elevator, huh?" the larger mammal remarked, understandably fed up with staircases from all the times he's had to climb up to Judy's place. He let out a frustrated sigh, and continued: "How many?"

"Forty-two. The guy said he'll be waitin' for us there."

The duo began ascending the somewhat slippery steps one at a time, the task naturally proving much harder for Finnick than the taller fox. They both stayed quiet for the whole time it took them to make it up top- apart from the occasional annoyed grunts and distinct heavy breathing that is.

"This… better be… worth it", Nick murmured under his ragged breath, evaluating if he was ready to go through the prior hell for any reduction it had on the price. If it even did have one in the first place.

He could only imagine what having to carry furniture up there would be like.

The hunched down fennec looked right about ready to faint from exhaustion. "Hey-", he paused to take in a mouthful of air and straighten his spine, "-no one to blame but yourself". He dragged his body in front of the first door on the left, and waited for the other worn-out individual to catch up to him before knocking on the barricade.

"Doesn't mean I can't… complain."

There was a faint echo of nearing pawsteps, and the door flew open, revealing a tall, middle aged, grey and white timber wolf clothed in a yellow polo shirt and deep blue slacks. What separated him from everyone Nick knew though, were his round, thin framed glasses equipped with rose red lenses.

If he had been considered out of fashion a few weeks ago, then there was no expression for the sight standing before him. However, they couldn't laugh at the ridiculousness right now- that enjoyment would have to be saved for later.

The canine reached out his paw towards Nick, who politely returned the gesture with a completely straight face. "Hi! Name's Thomas, but you can just call me Tom. I'm the landlord around here", he chirpily began, running his gaze back and forth between the two vulpine's. He had to crouch all the way down to his waist level to even have a chance at shaking paws with the fennec.

"Nice to meet you, Tom. I'm Nick Wilde. Cool specs by the way", he replied, somehow managing to make the last part sound sincere under his still on-going gasping.

The addressee acknowledged the comment with an appreciative smile and nod, then turned to the tinier fox. "And you must be Finnick."

"Yeah, we're here to see the apartment."

The wolf's eyebrows were raised by the stubby reply, but he didn't seem to mind it too much as he stepped aside and let the two possible money fountains enter the relatively small space. "Oh, of course. Let me show you around."

Nick followed him, trailed by his friend. The empty vestibule had nothing out of the ordinary: it was a narrow room with a few shelves carved into the walls opposite and next to the entrance, which was located in the corner, a single lamp built into the roof providing just enough light to make it past too dim, and a link to the rest of the apartment in the form of a hallway on the front left from the door. The walls were not as thick as the outer ones he'd seen earlier, but still seemed to be enough to block the view from any peepers. To his surprise and delight, the floor was covered with wooden planks that formed a neat, light in color parquet- his hind paws were relieved to get off of the frozen surface.

"So, what would you like to check out first: the bedrooms or the living room?" the largest one out of the three inquired after feeling like they'd inspected the few things there thoroughly.

"Let's just start with the bedrooms", the red fox answered casually, knowing that Finnick couldn't, and wouldn't, be less interested of the order of things.

"Sure thing", Tom replied and turned around to face the hallway, which went on for just over fourteen feet. "They're the two on the left. The second one's a tad bigger if it makes a difference", he added, eliciting a stare down behind his back as the trio made their way to, and through the first white door.

Nick was taken aback by his low expectations flying out the window, and being replaced with a sensation of a pleasant surprise. The room was spacious- to say at least. There were two adjacent windows, which showcased the building's right side twin, opposite to the doorway and a round lamp hanging from the ceiling. The only thing that bothered him at all was the fact that there were a couple of electrical cables visible inside the walls- though only barely. "How much was the rent again?" his voice quivered with despair.

"Five-thirty a month. No heat included", came the vigorous reply, causing the red fox's head to tilt in awe.

"Yo, Nick! Come check this out!" Finnick yelled from across the hallway, having already left the room to do some personal research.

Nick followed the voice into the opposite room, the bathroom by the looks of it. The parquet switched into large, black and white tile squares, which also covered the walls and even the ceiling, most likely to prevent hot steam from melting away the ice. Finnick was sitting in a far-too-large-for-a-fennec sized, modern bathtub in the back left corner, the shower connected onto the wall behind his back.

"This is so fuckin' lit, dude", the tiny mammal whispered harshly.

And how could Nick disagree? He hadn't even had a toilet of his own in who knows how long. Just looking at it sitting in the other corner next to the shiny sink made him want to claim it- as odd as that sounds. Above all that, there was still plenty of space to fit a washing machine and a lot of other things next to the left wall and both sides of the entrance.

He smiled at his friend's childish attitude, not trying to hide his own excitement that showed as mild laughter, and spoke: "I thought you hated that word".

"Everything alright in there?" Thomas shouted from the other side of the wall, bringing both of the two back into reality. They hastily exited the washroom, eager to see the rest of the apartment.

"So how did it look?" the wolf asked curiously, waiting for them at the next location of interest, which was the larger of the two bedrooms. It was very much like the other one, the only major difference being a sizeable niche for drawers and such on the left wall. He couldn't even tell if it was actually bigger than the prior one.

"Fantastic. Just like everything else so far", Nick replied genuinely, ordering his eyes to look for any sort of hint of a major flaw that could cause the place to be so affordable. There was absolutely no way he would ever get this lucky when it came to major life decisions without there being a catch of some kind.

"Glad to hear that", the canine hummed. "You both ready to continue?"

With two nods and corresponding "Yeah"-s the three left the room, and proceeded through the remaining length of the hallway. The pair of foxes nearly froze when they came to the sight of an ample space designed to function as a living room, completely lit by the sunlight beaming through the giant window on the back wall. That said, they were even more amazed when they passed the extended piece of wall on the left side, and saw the kitchen and its wide collection of paraphernalia ranging from multiple blue cabinets to a tall, naturally functioning fridge.

Thomas took notice of their hanging jaws. "That's all included in the rent, if you're wondering."

Nick squinted, and cleared his throat, already willing to empty his pockets and some more for the flat. "Would you excuse us for a moment. We really need to have a quick chat". Finnick gave him a knowing look.

"Oh, it's no problem. Take your time."

With haste, the pair returned all the way back to the front door, both silent until finally face to face. "The second room's mine" Nick half whispered smugly, crouching down a little to have a clearer view of his friend's face that stiffened at the remark.


	15. Chillaxin'

Judy laid on her stomach on her soft, comfy bed, hugging a pillow under her chin, trying to keep up with over twenty text conversations at the same time. Her phone had been going absolutely crazy throughout the whole day and hadn't shown a single sign of stopping so far. Apparently it hadn't taken long for the word of her newfound mate to spread amongst her older siblings, most of whom – being the caring and well raised rabbits they were – had taken it as their own duty to talk some 'sense' into her. Needless to say, she turned down each offer with a reassurance that she indeed knew who she'd chosen and what she was doing.

It wasn't all too bad though. She had very rarely talked to any of her brothers and sisters after she'd moved into Zootopia, and what better way to reconnect with all of them than this. Plus some of the bunnies seemingly understood the situation she was in and were rather supportive, a total of six of them even going as far as saying they would try and discuss the topic with her parents later.

Speaking of which, despite the hundreds upon hundreds of messages exchanged between the family members in the past 24 hours (yes, she had stayed up all night partly worrying, and partly tearing her eyes dry at the treatment she and her fox had gotten) there had been no mention of how the elderly Hopps' were acting. She had even tried to MuzzleTime them well over an hour earlier right after Nick, who had been strictly against the idea, had left to check out something at his place. No one had picked up though.

Her right paw reached out and subconsciously searched the messy tabletop that held her bag of spinach leaves, the most perfect anti-melancholy tool to ever exist. This was her third one of the day.

And probably not the last.

 _*nah, only saw mom in the morning*_ , her younger sister by two and a half years, Ella, informed, eliciting a frustrated sigh out of the virtually limp mammal. This was getting utterly ridiculous.

 _*So no one knows where Dad is?*_

 _*luke might but I'm guessing you already asked him*_

 _*Yeah, he said that the truck was already gone when he'd woken up…"_

She cursed her cowardly parents in her mind. All she wanted was to talk to them, to have the slightest chance to explain how her being in love with Nick wasn't the end of the world. Even getting a confirmation that they would never approve of his existence would be better than the current game of hide and seek.

Her focus returned onto the screen as she felt the device gently vibrate in her paws. _*so why a fox anyways?*_

The question threw her off a little. _*…I didn't start dating him solely because of his species, Ella.*_

 _*sooo why did you then?*_

There was a short pause as Judy tried to word her answer. _*I guess he was just really nice.*_

 _*you guess he was really nice? you know that's not the only trait you should be looking for in a mate, right?*_

She began her lightning-fast typing again in an attempt to clarify herself, but was cut off by an assumption from her sister, a bizarre one at that. _*it's ok, jude, I won't judge if you have a thing for foxes or something*_

Her paws suddenly began fumbling, and missed nearly every other letter as she hastily put together an objection. _*I DON'T! He's like the only fox besides Gideon that I know*_

 _*aaand?*_

Judy pressed her face into the pillow and kept it there for a short while, trying to come up with a simple way to summarize her feelings towards the red fox in English. The task proved much harder than she'd expected though, and after keeping the younger Hopps waiting for a good thirty seconds, she lifted her head back up. _*I can't really explain it. I just feel happy whenever he's around. He doesn't treat me as just some deaf bunny like everyone else do.*_

The response came only a few seconds later. _*well that's a better reasoning than him just being nice*_

Her paw emptied the bag and threw another pawful of leaves into her mouth, destining them to be crushed by her merciless buckteeth. _*So, do you want to dig deeper into my personal life, or am I free to go? I still need to have this conversation with like, I don't know, everyone else living under that roof.*_

 _*aawww cmon! we haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet*_

 _*Bye, Ella*_ , she finished, most definitely not wanting to go into _that_ topic with anyone in her family- sharing the experience with Ben earlier today at lunch had provided quite enough teasing and one-sided blushing as it was. Understandably, that hadn't done much good for her concentration for the following two lectures.

Luckily though, she didn't have any projects that had to be handed back by tomorrow - as unbelievable as that sounds - which allowed her to pay full attention to the on-going chaos and trying to dissolve it.

 _*you're no fun :((*_ , her phone shook in her paws for the final time before she completely muted the device and set it onto the table next to the empty bag of treats. There was no way she could chat with anyone on Earth right now without having a short break. Rolling onto her back, she sighed in exhaustion, absolutely drained by, well, _everything_ that had taken place in the span of the previous day or so. And that is not to mention the lack of rest or the absence of her favorite fox-pillow.

' _What is taking him so long anyway'_ , she thought to herself, her metabolism craving for the box of curry takeout that Nick had promised to bring her once he got back. She had missed her last meal, which meant that her latest one had taken place well over eight hours ago; an absurd time for an emotional bunny such as herself to stay fueled by nothing but water and comfort foods. At the notion of her eyelids turning surprisingly heavy, she quickly shook her head and sluggishly got up and off the bed. A drawn-out yawn escaped her lungs as she straightened out both her yellow T-shirt and black leggings that had ended up in uncomfortable twists after all the prior squirming and rolling around.

As much as she didn't want to admit it; considering what her plan besides trying to make the red fox addicted to one of her current favorite online shows "Paw and Order", was, the fatigue of the situation was finally catching up to her. Slumping towards the kitchen with the empty bag of spinach leaves in her other paw, Judy inwardly debated if she should keep her phone unmuted after all. Sure, the constant notifications in the form of the screen lighting up every few seconds would play with her nerves a little bit, but they were also the only way for Nick to gain access to her apartment.

The dumb decision not to have the good-for-nothing doorbell connected to the main room's lighting to save the cost of having the circuit installed was yet again backfiring. To her defense though, Judy couldn't have possibly known that she'd ever end up actually needing the set-up so frequently in the future.

Tossing the piece of trash into the can under the sink, she looked around the kitchen, hoping to locate something to keep her even remotely energetic for the final few hours. A bitter smell filled her nostrils as her eyes stopped on a red plastic container placed on top of the fridge. Nick had brought the item over after their first "sleepover" to act as a treatment for his morning grogginess, taken that his bunny girlfriend didn't care much for anything else than tea.

Judy simply stared at the case of coffee. It was the best available solution to her problem, but there were a few complications. First of all, the fridge towered over her by at least the height of another rabbit, making it impossible for her to reach the container without the help of at least a stack of furniture- there was no point in trying to keep herself from falling asleep to seduce her hunger for affection, if the alternative was to spend the night in a hospital bed. Secondly, her past experiences with the beverage weren't exactly all that assuring. Her functioning under the influence of the slightest amount of caffeine could easily make the _Duracell-_ bunny drop to the floor from exhaustion. That said, the effect would take a good time to actually come into play.

Another weary yawn interrupted her hesitation though, making it quite clear that getting to the red case was now her top priority.

* * *

Nick climbed up the last set of stairs with a brown paper bag in his paw and a wide, self-satisfied grin on his face, extremely happy with his day so far. His free paw instinctively moved to his pocket to retrieve his phone, when the wooden door to heaven appeared from around the corner, but was stopped at the sight of said door creak open the tiniest bit and a single lavender eye peek through the crack.

His sleek frame was struck by a torpedo of grey fur in the middle of the hallway mere seconds after, and the two muzzles met each other in a rushed, yet soft and enjoyable kiss as Judy pulled him down to her level by the collar of his shirt, the same grey one he'd used on their first official date. Taking notice of both of her ears already being equipped with the hearing aids, the red fox parted their connected lips and angled his nose to point right between the lengthy appendages, a bit confused by her behavior: "You know, as much as I like what you're going for, I'd prefer not to give your neighbors the peeping rights".

Judy faked a slight frown and snatched the aroma-filled bag from Nick's paw. "You're a terrible wooer", she stated playfully before turning around to speedily make her way back into the comfort provided by her apartment's four walls, leaving her mate to subconsciously check if he could spot a peephole darker than the other ones surrounding him. Coming to a positive negative conclusion, he quickly trailed her inside and locked the door.

The bunny was found putting one of the two white cartons into the black microwave, the food unsurprisingly having gone cold at this point. Tiptoeing to reach the gadget on the second of three over all shelves, she glanced at the doorway, and slammed the microwave door shut, initiating the ever so annoying humming and beeping that echoed through the narrow space. Shortly after, the fox locked her in a flirty type of embrace from behind, his other paw either roaming around her stomach or side whilst the other ran a claw through the thin fur of her ear or cheek.

"I sure hope that's not how you greet every delivery boy, Fluff".

Digging through the aroma-filled bag to get her own food ready to be defrosted, she smiled widely. "Well, it isn't if they're called something other than Nicholas P. Wilde."

"Do you really want me to dig up a phone book and start threatening mammals?" He spun her figure around, and moved his further-up paw to linger over his chest as his trademark grin changed into a convincing, stiff expression. "'Cause I'll do it."

His banter was rewarded with nothing but a half done snort and a nudge to his shoulder. "Yeah, like anyone else was called something as dumb as _Nicholas Piberius_ ", she finished with an extra tint of teasing in her voice.

Said fox gave her an unimpressed look and retorted: "Oh, you just speak for yourself, _Judith Laverne"._

She let out a subtle chuckle, and inched herself closer towards his unmistakable musk. "How's your place looking anyways?"

He shrugged and resumed messing with her left ear, sending tingles through her entire body. "They're still working on the bathroom, but it should be done by Monday. Though, we were thinking of waiting till Wednesday to move our stuff back in since there's gonna be a lot of cleaning to do."

"Sooo, you think you could show me around on… let's say Friday night?"

"Isn't that Valentine's?"

A nod.

Nick pretended to mull the request over. "Hmm… I mean Finnick is probably going to be out drinking for the evening, if that's what you're wondering." His comment received an innocent 'oh-really' type of tilt of her head that could only be described as affirming. "Though, I should mention that I had to get rid of my old bed before the renovation, so you might have to prepare for a bit rougher ride than last time", he added, only now remembering the lack of decorations in the newfound nest.

"That's fine, I think we can manage with just a couch."

"Umm…" he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck in slight shame.

The rabbit stopped playing with the hem of his shirt, and looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Wait, how exactly do you sleep then?"

His smirk vanished for a sliver of a second as he pondered on all the possible outcomes that an honest answer, which he then confidently gave, could have: "On a beanbag chair".

The microwave let out a final set of three long beeps and switched off, giving Nick the perfect chance to gain some distance from the bunny to eye her dumbfounded reaction. His paws moved on their own as they swapped the cartons, and restarted the aforementioned device.

"Really?"

He nodded, leaning against the much too low counter.

"No, but-", she continued, still partially thinking he was just trying to kid her, "-seriously?"

The red fox repeated the action and closed the gap between them to get into her hearing range. "I know it sounds bad, but you honestly have to try it before you can judge properly."

He was taken aback by the smaller mammal quite literally bursting into an uncontrollable laughter, a few droplets of spit even escaping her mouth and right onto his shirt as she did so. The guffaw and gasping went on for a good twenty seconds before Judy even reached her peak. "S- sorry, but I- I just can't-", she tried to speak despite still feeling the need to relish the hilariousness of the revelation a bit longer, "-I just wasn't expecting- that, that's all".

Nick watched as she wiped away the tears that had formed in her eyes, barely able to stifle a toothy smile himself due to her contagious outburst. Or at least that was before her dying down chuckles and calming inhales evolved right back into rough cachinnating. He rolled his eyes and let out an inaudible sigh to further emphasize on his amused sort of boredom. "I'll go set up the ' _Cops and Robbers'_ or whatever it was called. You're free to join me if you're still conscious at that point", he calmly announced, grabbed his box of roasted vegetables and boiled cicadas, and left the room with a final tug on her ear.

Half an hour later the pair found themselves lying on the apartment's usual relaxation spot, cuddled into each other with the laptop resting on Nick's thighs and the bunny practically buried into his side. The cartons stood empty underneath the bed, the contents having been devoured in only a few moments after they'd taken their current positions.

"Aaand now one of them is pissing… into a flowerpot… during a heist" Nick pointed out in a disapproving, though amazed tone- for the fourth time. He'd made his opinion on the bipolar ridiculousness shown on the screen quite clear, and was really only still making comments of it to get a reaction out of his mate.

She objected with a simple nudge and concentrated back onto the subtitles, just like she'd done three times before. To be honest, she was getting restless as well- the caffeine was probably starting to kick in.

A silent tension took over the room for the following three and a half minutes as the pair stared at the bright display and breathed in sequence, both knowing that the next words out of the larger one's mouth would probably end up cutting the episode short.

Still, he couldn't possibly keep the mildly frustrated sigh, which was caused by the robbers taking off their masks and revealing themselves solely based on an unbelievably desperate assumption made by the good guys, not escape his lungs.

Not to either one's surprise, the grey furred rabbit quickly sat up, paused the program, moved the laptop onto the floor and climbed onto the puzzled fox's stomach. "Alright then-", she began, a mix of disappointed and annoyed by him not sharing the same interest in the cop series as her, but unwilling to let that keep her from enjoying his stay all the same, "entertain me".

His eyebrows both lowered and raised in confusion as he tried to catch onto her intentions. He had to raise his voice a lot due to the gain in distance to her ears: "Umm… What now?"

Judy put on the wriest expression she could muster and inched herself closer to his muzzle. "Well, based on your _very_ thorough critique, you should be way more fun than that _stupid, half-assed, unimaginative joke of a show_ ", she ironically articulated his own prior words, her bottom now pinning him down by his upper chest area.

He gulped, but other than that, didn't show any sign of being intimidated. "Sooo, am I supposed to do a magic trick now, or what? The good ol' bunny in a hat?" he joked halfheartedly and tried to sit up, only to find himself getting forcefully pushed back against the stack of pillows under his back. She had him right where she wanted him.

"Well, actually-", she spoke calmly, "-I was thinking of something more vocal".

His eyes widened a bit in response. "As in sing?"

She affirmed his suspicion with a moderate "Mhhm".

"And what if I don't?"

Her smile grew larger- by a lot. "You'll get to sleep on your beanbag chair".

Nick simply snorted in protest, staring at her sly face, which spoke no mercy. After a while of inward debating though, he sighed and conceded: "Fine, what would you like your jukefox to play, Miss?"

Judy shifted her body and rested herself horizontally across his chest, her head right next to his muzzle and right paw lost in the jungle of thick fur on his neck. "You really think I'd know any songs?" she retorted with a satisfied chuckle.

Both Nick's tail and paws wrapped around the bunny as he cleared his throat and prepared to toss his dignity down the drain. He wasn't exactly known as the most talented canine vocalist in the karaoke bars around Zootopia. Then again, this was an audience of one mostly deaf mammal, who more than likely had little to no musical experience in her life.

Said mammal could barely hold still. Despite managing play cool for the last few moments, her heart was racing whoknowshowmany beats per minute, the coffee only accelerating the already sky-high pace. Sure, her mom, who she currently didn't think too fond of, had sung to her every now and then back in her kit days, but the context was far different from what was going on now.

" _Didn't even know your name_ _-"_ , Nick cautiously began, putting maximum effort in not letting his voice falter from feeling her paw push harder against his throat, _"-Now you're here beside me,_

 _This is the happiest I will ever be,_

 _And I know you'll come to agree,_

 _That we're both better off,_

 _With you beside m-"_

His performance was cut short by her lips softly pressing against his. Ruffling the blazing orange fur on his neck, she pulled away and spoke: "I can't keep you a secret anymore".


	16. Downhill

Judy and Clawhauser stood rigid in front of a large, victorian styled metallic gate, both eyes locked onto their respective phones as usual. Their unclothed paws shook as the cold wind blew over them, naturally making chatting with each other much more difficult.

It was rather early into the Wednesday evening, which - for the record - was always the coldest one of the week thanks to the artificial climate of Tundratown. Despite that, there were only a few snowflakes falling from the surprisingly dark sky.

Judy's day had gone by pretty much the same as the previous one, consisting of half minded studying, a lot of texting and a bit of free time with Nick before he'd left to check on the apartment again. There was one exception, though.

She'd finally received news from the frontlines in the Burrows. Apparently her parents had come home late in the evening, and had refused to answer any questions regarding their leave. Neither had they wanted to talk about the situation with any of her siblings. She was still waiting for them to call her back.

After about half a minute of waiting, the decorative letter 'B' split into two as the remote controlled gate doors receded from their way. Both knowing the basics of how the mansion's security system functioned, having visited the place a little less than thirty times at this point, the pairing gave the closest security camera a wave of gratitude, and proceeded to step on the otherwise very restricted land.

The two walked up the slightly uphill gravel road, which was surrounded by an almost abnormal sight of healthy, clean cut grass.

 _*I'm never gonna get tired of this place*_ , Clawhauser stated, lifting his eyes from the screen of his phone to gaze at the ' _residence_ ' they were heading for.

Unlike the majority of the district's structures, the mansion was built out of actual building materials. The facade showcased a very detailed and decorative design, while the black tiled mansard roof along with the projecting windows gave the whole a French vibe. However, instead of following the same early 18th century pattern as the rest of the house, the walls were actually made out of modern grey stone blocks.

 _*You sure this is a good idea? I mean what if she'll take it the same way as your parents?*_ the cheetah inquired for the second time in the past five minutes, worried and excited for the upcoming conversation all at the same time.

 _*Ben, it's different. She's our friend, and I'm like 90% sure that she's got nothing against this stuff*_ Judy reaffirmed yet again, knowing her other close friend would most likely just be delighted by the news, though maybe a bit bitter that she hadn't been informed earlier.

They arrived at the almost rhino-sized entrance, and only had to wait for a little less than ten seconds for the giant hardwooden doors to be pulled open from the other side by an at least nine foot polar bear. He wore a half classy, all black suit, a few gold chains around his neck and a dead-serious expression, looking intimidating enough to scare off an elephant.

Judy gave the guard a wide smile and a chirpy "Hi, Pete!" before simply walking past him, followed by Ben who mimicked her actions. The polar bear's stiff look didn't falter as he grunted in response and shut the doors.

The inside of the mansion was no less amazing than the outside. The recently waxed black and white checkered floor absolutely mirrored the surrounding space that was the nearly house sized, relatively empty lobby. There were a set of stairs on each wall, which were nearly completely covered in small portraits of an arctic shrew family. The space was lit by a crystal chandelier hanging from the very middle of the unnecessarily high-up roof.

The visitors stopped in front of the colossal cabinet right next to the entrance as they had learned was the basic procedure. They gave their jackets to the white furred mammal who inspected every pocket before hanging them inside the piece of antique furniture. He then bent down as low as he could to frisk the rabbit.

Judy was taken aback by the boar's face do something very uncharacteristic: move. His eyebrows were scrunched and his nose slightly twitching. "Something wrong?" she asked, holding up her paws so that his own ones could perform the quick search.

Peter snapped out of his suspicious state and reset his mien to its normal setting as soon as the words reached his ears. He shook his head, and quickly finished the task at paw before moving onto the much back-friendlier mammal. There was no reason for the bunny to smell like a certain fox from years ago.

Once Clawhauser was cleared too, he received the directions to their friend's current whereabouts from the guard, who returned to his earlier position watching the doors. The feline led them up the mildly curved marble stairs on the left side of the lobby and down the nearly horror-movie styled, lengthy hallway. Eventually they arrived at their destination: the second floor's tertiary dining space, decorated just for these kind of situations as the height differences would be simply unbearable otherwise.

Judy's step skipped as she practically ran inside the room, eager to finally see her best galpal after all these weeks spent with either the scruffy fox or the chubby cheetah- not that she was complaining. "Fru!" she shrieked happily, advancing towards her pregnant shrew friend, who was reading some magazine in her little booth placed on the much larger wooden tabletop.

Fru Fru's face lit up as she saw her two friends enter the room, the smaller one seemingly having really missed her judging by her velocity. Before she could react properly, Judy picked her up carefully, and pulled her miniature frame into the space between her neck and other shoulder, improvising a hug of some sort. That same spot just happened to be one of the many ones that Nick had nuzzled earlier, and being a shrew, her nose was completely stuffed with his predatory scent.

The grey bunny gave her a final quick squeeze, unbeknownst to the muffled, joking "Help!" that left her friend, before setting her back onto the table. "It's been way too long", she stated, just now picking up on her baffled expression. Meanwhile Clawhauser made his way to the bear sized, wine red armchair and sat down, observing the exchange with a knowing smile.

"Something wrong?" Judy asked at the note of the shrew simply staring at her with her other paw on her huge stomach and the other cupping her cheek.

The mob boss' daughter turned to the feline, unable to answer the rabbit due to her lack of sign. "Give me a lift, won't you".

Benjamin let out an exaggerated sigh and laid his paw flat in front of her, before carefully moving it across the table to her booth. Judy took the action as a sign to climb onto her extra tall barstool between the two and take out her phone, as did both of her friends.

She'd barely opened the application they always used when the first message already came in. _*REALLY JU JU!? The first perfume you've used in who knows how long and you decide to go with predmusk?*_

Judy saw Clawhauser visibly chuckle out of the corner of her eye, and was barely able to hide her own amusement as the result. Stifling a laugh, she let her thumbs go wild as she typed her somewhat witty response: _*Aww, I thought you'd like it*._

 _*I mean, I probably would if you hadn't overdosed on it*_ , Fru shot back, giving her a teasing smile.

Clawhauser - being the chatty mammal he was - took the opportunity to join in the conversation before the two females would completely forget about his existence: _*So how's the high-class life treating you?*._

 _*I guess it's been fine. Kinda boring, ever since Simon left to the Tri-Burrows, though*,_ she replied, referencing to her newly-wed husband.

 _*Why is he there again?*_ Judy inquired, just the mention of the Burrows snapping her mind right back to the still ongoing situation with her folks.

 _*He wanted to visit his family before your goddaughter comes around. I really wanted to go with but I'm not sure I could handle over 200 miles at this point.*_

The cheetah nodded along as he read the message. _*How long was it till the expected date btw?*_

 _*You guys really do spend way too much time with your noses up in those books at COST, huh?*_ Fru retorted, feeling the need to playfully scold the two for both not hanging out with her in weeks and forgetting such basic things about her life before answering. _*Ten days from now.*_

 _*So it's the Saturday after Valentine's?*_ the bunny clarified.

 _*Well, with my luck it's going to land on Friday for sure*_ , the shrew joked, eliciting a slight chuckle out of the other mammals. _*But enough of me, you told me that you had something important to tell me.*_

Judy froze for a second and took a quick glance at the cheetah on her left. He looked as if he was about ready to explode, but worried all at the same time. She hastily grasped on her aforethought plan on how to go about the revelation, and began typing: _*Oh, yeah. Umm… you remember the last time we two saw, right?*_

Fru took note of her smile tapering slightly and responded with a curious look. _*Well it's been almost three weeks, but I do recall us going shopping at the mall. What about that?*_

 _*Well, the reason we did was because I needed a jacket for a date*,_ the rabbit confessed, ogling at her friend for a reaction, which she didn't have to wait for long.

Fru shot up in her seat with wide-eyes and a grin. _*YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND!?*_

Judy couldn't help but smile herself as Clawhauser took the words out of her mouth: _*Not as much of a boyfriend as a MATE*._

 _*NO WAY! I'm SOOO happy for you, Ju! Why didn't you tell me sooner?*_

Judy shifted a bit uncomfortably on the stool. _*Because I'm not actually wearing any perfume right now…*_

The shrew raised an eyebrow at her, confused by the hint. _*What do you mean? I can definitely tell that you don't smell like a rabbit…*_

Ben sighed in a disappointed manner before speaking out loud: "And how exactly do you think she got that scent if not by applying it herself?"

Fru mulled it over for a second before her eyes opened up to the maximum degree. _*JUDITH L. HOPPS, ARE YOU DATING A PRED?*_

She received a timid nod in response, and gasped. _*What species is he?*_

Happy with her friend's so far not at all negative reaction, Judy spoke with a glint of excitement in her voice: "A red fox".

 _*O M GOSH, THAT IS SO ROMANTIC! A deaf bunny and her natural enemy! How did you guys even meet?*_

 _*It's a long story, but they were on the same math class. I'll tell you the rest later… with specifics of course*_ , Clawhauser stated, the last part causing Judy to give him a nudge. _*His major's business, so none of us have many lectures together.*_

 _*I can't believe you're an Inter! Have you told your parents yet?*_ Fru asked, unaware of how touchy the subject was.

The bunny and the cheetah exchanged quick, stiff looks. _*I did the day before yesterday, and let's just say it didn't go too well.*_

 _*Why? What happened?*_

 _*Well, my dad pepper sprayed Nick, and now they're refusing to talk to me- to put it shortly.*_

 _*I'm sure they can't keep that up for long*_ , the shrew reassured. _*So does this Nick have a last name so that I could spy on his Furbook?*_

Benjamin beat Judy to the answer: _*Search up Nicholas P. Wilde. His profile should be the first match*._

The rabbit focused her vision on the microscopic phone in Fru Fru's paws, making sure she had the right mammal. Plus this way she could get another glimpse of her mate. After all, it had been nearly two whole hours from the last time.

What she wasn't expecting though, was to see her friend's smile vanish completely and her frame freeze motionless.

 _*Ummm… I'm guessing you don't know his past profession, do you?*_


	17. Pained

Judy paced through the quiet streets by herself, her legs going nearly as fast as her mind. She had left the Bigs' residence pretty much as soon as Fru Fru had told her about Nick's background, knowing that she'd find him at her apartment at this point. Clawhauser had stayed with their friend and was presumably sharing all the events from the past three weeks with her right now.

A drip of moisture gathered on the bunny's eyes as the feelings of betrayal and mistrust made their return. How could've she thought that everything would stay perfect for any longer than this? How could've she thought that she'd found the one mammal she wanted to spend the rest of her life with? How could've she thought that mammal would ever be a fox?

Icy buildings flew by her vision in pairs as her steps turned into hundreds of feet and then some. There was still little to no snowfall, but the temperature had definitely lowered, so much so that the air felt as if it was constantly stinging her exposed nose and drooped ears. Nearly all the shop windows showcased special deals for Valentine's in one form or another, only sending her into a stronger emotional frenzy. A quiet sob left her mouth.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of worry-filled wandering, Judy arrived at the familiar student dormitory, which she hastily entered. Luckily the elevator was back in use at last so she didn't have to run out of breath on her way to sentence her… mate.

' _Yeah, way to go with that one, me!'_ she thought to herself and pushed the button with the small number 24 next to it repeatedly, her frustration showing in her every gesture. A second later the metallic doors closed and the little box began ascending slowly, giving Judy just enough time to regain her thoughts once more.

* * *

Nick sat on the white kitchen table inside the empty apartment, having resorted to it since the all the actual seats inside the room were far too tiny for him to even consider using. He was waiting for the half-filled pot of water finish heating up, knowing that his bunny would most likely need something warm when she got back from her visit. Though he had no clue where she even was or how long she was planning to stay for that matter.

Then again, he hadn't told her where he had really gone earlier. He wanted the sign lessons to stay as a secret for now.

His eyes were locked on the light green electric kettle, occasionally drifting on the nearly nonexistent puffs of steam that oddly managed to escape the gadget every now and then. He tilted his head a little bit in curiosity, trying to figure out if it was broken somehow, his expression reminding that of a kit's. For the record he'd actually found himself doing these sorts of things a lot in the recent history, having gotten rid of the annoying phone-addiction; one of the many positives having someone around nearly constantly had on him.

Still, nearly drowning in boredom, he couldn't stop his paw from reaching for the left pocket of his graphite sweatpants and pull out the device that contained the entirety of his social relationships and so much more. His thumbs danced on their own as the screen lock was unlocked and the web browser opened in rapid succession, a selfie of him and Judy snuggled up together on her bed flashing in between the different states as it was his wallpaper. The fox scrolled through his Furbook feed mindlessly, finding nothing interesting as usual. He then continued to his secondary source of entertainment: ZNN or the Zootopia News Network. The very top post, only published a few hours ago, caught his attention.

' _MISSING MAMMAL CASE SOLVED! PREDS GOING FERAL_?'

Nick scrunched his eyebrows in confusion and proceeded to read through the article. Apparently the ZPD had gotten rather lucky on a daily patrol and had managed to track the latest victim - a lioness by the name of Lea Rawrer - all the way from the far eastern corner of Sahara Square to Cliffside Asylum, where all the 21 animals had been held captive by none other than mayor Lionheart and an armed crew. According to the statements made by the two officers, who had witnessed the abduction, Rawrer had been tranquilized and driven away in a black van, which the pair hadn't been able to catch back then. However, with the help of the traffic cameras around the city, the authorities had fortunately located the hideout.

There was a twist, though. All of the captives - from the tiniest mink to the most fearsome jaguar - were for some unexplainable reason acting as if they had gone savage, showing signs of extreme aggression and a lack of self-consciousness, some stronger than others. They were currently under the care of the best scientists the city had to offer, but so far there hadn't been any news of even a possible breakthrough.

Nick let out an audible "Hmpf", and pocketed the device slowly, his brain trying to form sensible thoughts regarding the text. Not once had he ever heard of something similar, and that's coming from someone, who's spent over a decade practically living on the streets.

He was pulled back into reality by a distant bleep accompanied by an echo of urgent pawsteps arising from the hallway. It wasn't too difficult for his ears to tell, whom they belonged to, so he got up and exited the kitchen to get the door for the approaching mammal. His intentions were soon denied though, as there was a sound of a key being inserted into the lock followed up by a distinct click.

Nick stopped by the kitchen doorway, leaned into it with his other shoulder and put on a smug grin, completely unaware of the storm that was about to hit him- hard.

In a blink of an eye, the door flew open and the grey, distressed bunny made her way inside, slamming the wooden structure shut behind her. She made eye contact with the fox instantly, a slight quiver in her voice as she spoke a little louder than necessary: "Odd jobs and ice cream, huh?"

He would've had to be in a coma to not realize what his mate meant. His ears pinned down against his skull, tail halted its wagging and lips twisted into the slightest frown, forming a defensive, yet apologetic look.

"You really thought I wouldn't find out?" she inquired, nearing him one slow step at a time.

Nick sunk back into the kitchen to retrieve the sticky notes that were required to communicate with her, guessing that she probably wouldn't let him that close to her right now anyways. He went to grab the stack from the counter, but was stopped by a particularly deep cutting, emotion filled comment.

"And to think I thought I could trust you."

A memory of himself crying outside in his scout uniform right after the scarring initiation flashed through his mind, causing his paw to only linger over the pink paper squares as his whole body became motionless. He wanted to leave. In fact, were it any other mammal in his life he was having this discussion with, he already would've done so.

"You got anything to say for yourself?"

However, the rabbit was just too precious in every possible way to give away. Plus he was quite sure he could get her to understand- no matter how painful it was going to be. He glanced at her teary form over his shoulder, nodded and began writing. Once done, he handed the note to Judy, who reluctantly accepted it.

' _How did you find out?'_

She gave him a disbelieving leer, scrunched the paper and dropped it to the floor, the action acting as a form of letting out steam. "How does that matter at all?"

Nick kept his cool, showing no signs of discomfort whatsoever. _'I need to know how much you've heard of the story in order to fill you in, don't I?"_

There was a moment's pause as the pair simply eyed one another. "Fru Fru Big, the daughter of the crime boss, who has a _fricking death threat_ on you, Nick!" she nearly shouted with her arms spread. "Why didn't you tell me you had a criminal background?"

The fox stared at her for a moment before scribbling down his thoughts. _'I was afraid you'd leave me.'_

"How is this any better? I feel like I barely even know you anymore!" she whimpered, her voice nearly giving up on her just when she needed it the most. Her brain was far too occupied dealing with the tidal waves of emotions washing over her to fully help her tongue function properly, leading to a few odd syllables spewing out of her mouth.

Another short moment passed as the two stood in silence, Judy keeping her lavender eyes on his face for any remorse. Nick could only sigh, having no way of defending himself other than one, rather undesired option. Granted, he would've had to go through this anyway at some point, had she not found out about his past so early on.

A sliver of a smile played at the corners of his lips as he took a careful step closer to her, the bunny luckily not so much as flinching at the action. _'Well, I guess I'll have to properly introduce myself then.'_ He went on to pass her the note and retrieve her hearing aids from the box under the bed in the other room, Judy stopping at the same exact spot where he'd been waiting for her just minutes earlier at the doorway.

Returning to her anticipatory character, Nick held out the earpieces in front of her, the rabbit grabbing one of them in a swift motion accompanied by an exasperated grunt, surprisingly letting him set up the other one despite her nothing but intimidating stance. They kept quiet until she was readied to listen to his upcoming narrative, the task having been accomplished with minimum physical contact.

"So", he began, bending down to reach the distance he'd found to be the most comfortable for her during their conversations, his voice tense, but confident. "Are you sure you don't want to sit down? This might take a while", he hastily added, the comment quite misplaced as he received a stiff glare in response.

"Alright, first of all I've actually never done anything that was strictly illegal. Though I do have my fair share of shady deeds done, I'm not a criminal at all. Or at least not by the definition they've given you at COST."

"Also, I'm sure your friend already told you about the stupid rug incident that led into the death threat, which you totally shouldn't worry about, by the way. I was in the business long enough to learn Mr. Big's districts and other places where to keep away from. It's just a minor inconvenience if I ever need to visit the northern parts of Tundratown."

Judy listened intently, his coming clean speech still having no real effect on her mood, although she was quite relieved her mate wasn't being hunted down by a mob as he stood next to her. She would need much more than a few corrections to not beat up the predator by the time he'd be finished.

Fortunately for both of them, Nick was merely getting started.

"Besides, she only knows _what_ I've done over the years, not _why_ I've done those things", the fox said and closed his eyes, hardening his mind for the following part. "My dad left me and my mom when I was about six or seven years old. Well, at least that's what she kept telling me, even though no one knows for sure what happened to him. He just never came back home from work one day."

"We'd never been a rich family at all, but we did get by fine before he vanished. I still have no idea how my mom raised me alone on one salary after that. A few years went by and at some point I picked up some silly idea to join the Junior Ranger Scouts and somehow help others that way. I guess I'd always been peppy and naïve like that", a lightly amused snort escaped his body.

"Anyways, my mom - being the caring vixen she was – somehow scraped up enough money to get me a uniform and signed me up for the local meetups. I think we were like two of the only twenty preds living in our neighborhood, so all the other kits at the initiation were prey. They uh-", he stumbled, eyes still shut tight to prevent his mate seeing him tear up, "-muzzled and beat me up for being an untrustworthy _fox_ , which kinda left me scarred. So, I decided that if no one's going to see me as nothing but mischievous and sly, there'd be no point in me trying to fight back."

"When mom found out what'd happened, she absolutely lost it. Even after losing her lifemate, she'd tried her hardest to give her kit a good life, only to have prejudice wipe her efforts completely clean. All the built up stress finally caught up to her, and she fell into clinical depression. It got so bad that after a couple of months she had to quit work. I tried to help her the best I could, but, well, it didn't really work out that well with me being just over ten and all."

"A while after that I met Finnick. He'd gone through pretty much similar experiences and taught me how to make a quick buck using my natural gifts. We became friends in no time, and I ended up spending more and more time out on the streets hustling with him. Needless to say, the money I made went straight to aid my mother, who barely even left the house at this point. She didn't even bother asking where or how I made it."

"This went on for almost a whole year. I'd almost spared enough cash to get her to see a therapist, when her condition got worse. You see, us foxes have pretty poor immune systems, and depression doesn't really help on that front. So, one day she got a serious fever and had to be hospitalized for a few weeks."

He paused.

"Unfortunately those weeks ended up being her last ones."

Judy both watched and listened in horror, the words melting her prior choler to a salty solution of pity and guilt that left her eyes damp on the surface. She didn't even think twice about throwing her arms around his stomach, squeezing the quivering breath out of him with all of her might. His own ones returned the embrace. "Oh, Nick", she whispered.

"I ran from the rest of my family and kit protective services after that and went on to live with Finn in his old apartment, where I spent pretty much the rest of my teen years. Don't ask me how he allowed that, 'cause I honestly have no clue. I ended up working for Mr. Big through some scam we pulled on one of his henchmen, when I was around twenty-one. He gave me a proper roof on top of my head and a fat wallet for some items that were… let's say rather difficult to acquire at the time. And, well, you know what happened next."

The red fox opened his glassy eyes to find her pressed into him, dimly sobbing into his side.

"I was going to tell you eventually, by the way, but I couldn't stand the thought of risking our relationship. I guess I just figured that you wouldn't care about the old me after you had spent enough time with the current me. Actually, were it not for your parents, we would've already had this discussion. Anyways, the point is that there's no way I could've ever recovered from losing you, Judy."

He didn't receive a response as the bunny kept sniffling and tightened her hold on him, afraid of ever letting go again. No one should _ever_ go through what she'd just heard.

"I've had too many mammals leave me already, and having my own lifemate do the same isn't something I want to go through."

The pair stood there for the next three minutes, seeking each other's warmth in the apartment's atmosphere that was perhaps chillier than the weather outside. Neither of them knew for sure how the evening's events would affect the upcoming days or them as a whole for that matter, but at least they wouldn't need to row one another's throat dry.

Taking the rabbit's grip beginning to loosen as a sign of fatigue, Nick gave the top of her head a quick nuzzle and spoke with care in his voice: "You want some tea? Maybe a little make up cuddling? You like cuddling, don't you?"

Judy pushed her face into his shirt, hiding her relieved and somewhat amused face into the grey fabric, her voice muffled as a result: "Don't push your luck, fox."

He smiled at her, happy with the outcome. "I'll take that as a yes, then. You might want to take off your jacket though- I really don't want to smell like a wet fox right now", he jokingly stated, unattached her arms from his torso and returned to the kitchen, the water having been brought to a boiling point two and a half times whilst they'd been conversating.

At the realization of standing on her own two feet again, Judy did as was suggested, finding herself sitting on her usual spot in the very corner of the bed just half a minute later. Sure, she was still quite bitter about the previous hour or so, but there was no way she could stay mad at him. Right now all she wanted to do was to lay back and forget all about her prior thoughts of disappointment and despair.

Plus be covered by a fluffy fox tail body blanket. Can't forget about that.


	18. A hundred and one degrees

_*You sure you don't want me to come over?*_

 _*Nick, for the millionth time, I'll be fine! It's just a cold.*_

 _*A cold AND a fever! I'll have you know that's one of the deadliest combinations known to this day, Carrots.*_

The bunny resting in her bed sighed, the air gashing her throat as it escaped her lungs. This was the fifth time Nick had checked in on her today, and it wasn't even close to twelve yet. She was honestly still not sure how she'd been able to shoo him out of the apartment in the morning taking into account his overprotective attitude, which, for the record, was more than understandable considering his past experiences regarding the latter sickness. _*A MILD fever, which I can handle.*_ she cleared. _*Besides I don't want you to miss your lectures too.*_

 _*But I already know everything about taxes! I'm just wasting my time sitting here and not nursing you.*_

Judy smiled lazily. _*Actually from what I gathered from the Pawpsicle hustle, I'd say you know how to avoid taxes, not how to pay them. I really wouldn't want to end up defending your fuzzy tail for felony tax evasion any time soon.*_

A moment's pause - which she knew was caused by him having no smart follow-up - ensued. _*Even if I could buy you stuff with that money 'pleading face'*_

 _*Not a chance, Slick.*_

 _*Hmpf… Didn't know I was mated to Miss Justice herself. Have you eaten anything by the way?*_

Her stomach grumbled as if on cue, reminding her of the more or less obvious answer. She had supposed to meet up with Ben for lunch as usual and cook something with Nick in the evening, which is why she didn't have anything prepared in the fridge. Plus she still hadn't so much as gotten out of her bed with the exception of a bathroom run multiple hours ago. _*Nah, but Fru Fru's already on the way here. She promised to bring me some comfort food.*_

 _*Wait, let me get this straight. I - your mate - am not allowed to come over and help you with whatever you need, but you let your PREGNANT shrew friend, who's a part of the family that would KILL ME if they ever saw me again, visit you?*_

She mulled the idea over for a moment. _*Yep. Pretty much.*_

 _*Okay, I retract that Miss Justice thingy.*_

 _*Nick, I've practically known her since I first moved into this dump. The worst she'll do after I explain everything to her is try to clear things between you and the Bigs. Secondly, her bodyguards will probably have her dressed in two hazmat suits at this point anyways. Third off, you can come over later if you really want to.*_

 _*One, I sure do/will. Two, how do you even know her? By no offense (seriously, don't beat me up for this), you're a poor bunny LAW student, who works weekends and never has any fun outside her apartment, and she's… well, she's her.*_

Her face wrinkled up at the question, though she knew he meant nothing but well. _*I met her at this one fashion event, and our tastes just sort of clicked right off the bat. The show ended up sucking, so we just left for one of our own at the mall and got to know each other a little better.*_

 _*And you're fine with being close friends with a mob member?*_

 _*So much so that I'm going to be her child's godmother in about a week. Besides, I'm mated to you, so…*_

 _*That's totally different… in a way.*_

 _*Sure it is. Anyways, I need to get ready before Fru gets here. Bring me something I can snack on when you get back, alright?*_

 _*What? I'm not enough?*_

Judy grinned at the joke. _*Dumb fox.*_

 _*Luv u 2, Cottontail.*_

A groan and a half later the rabbit sat up, the pounding inside her head intensifying to an unbearable sensation of her vessels bursting open with each beat of her tiny heart. Her mouth and throat felt like one big desert, while her nose was clogged to the point of absolutely no air making it through her nostrils. There was also the annoying feeling of her body either being cooked over a campfire or being sunk in an ice hole that, unsurprisingly, made its presence known every single time she got even a little comfortable.

Oh, how she envied Nick for his thick, soft and, most of all, scruffy winter coat.

Her muscles felt soar and tired as she threw her legs over the edge of the bed and took the final small hop to exit it. Her eyes scanned the room, finding no signs of mess apart from the two mugs they'd drank from the prior evening and a few tossed about clothes that matched the size of a certain fox. Well, more than a few, but she didn't mind as it had sort of become a custom at this point.

She grabbed the crimson red sweatshirt that lay next to her feet and threw it over her white tank top, the hem of the dark fabric falling past her panties nearly all the way to her knees. She let out a sigh at her comical appearance before digging up a pair of saggy, black sweatpants out of her cabinet to cover the rest of her shaky frame.

Her stomach let out another unnatural growl as she returned to make her bed. Rabbits were certainly not built for an irregular diet. She proceeded through her morning routine as per usual, and just when she was about to collect all of the garments off the floor, she caught the screen of her phone light up out of the corner of her eye. Already knowing what the text message would say, Judy dragged herself to the front door, and took a quick glimpse through the peephole.

She was surprised by not finding her friend - or anyone else for that matter- on the other side.

Her gaze fell back onto the device on the tabletop that was situated right in front of the cold radiating window. It was still buzzing. Her hurting brain ran through the situation once more, trying to figure out what on any other given day would've been plain obvious.

Her eyes widened in shock as she realized she was getting a call. "Oh, sweet cheese and crackers", the bunny blurted with some struggle due to the condition of her throat before straight up bolting for the other end of the room, each step taking much more effort than normally. Her paws, as well as thumbs, fumbled with the device for a good moment before she could find the right button to answer the incoming video chat.

"Mom?" she inquired, her voice cracking slightly as the figure of the elderly doe popped up onto the display.

' _Hi, sweetie',_ Bonnie answered with subtle movements, a sad sort of smile covering the entirety of her muzzle whilst her ears were hidden behind her back, just like her daughter's respective ones. Her eyebrows lowered a little as she noticed her daughter's condition. _'Are you sick?'_

Judy glanced at her. Despite everything they'd said and done just a few days ago, she simply couldn't stop herself from smiling at her mother's caring nature and the now concerned expression. She shrugged: "Yeah, a little. It's nothing to worry about, though".

The other female nodded, her eyes falling far below her own phone in some sort of shame.

"So, uh… is dad there?" Judy stammered, acting uncharacteristically timid considering the circumstances. Had she still been in her teenage years, her mother would've now needed a pair of hearing aids too. Then again, this discussion could very well define the relationships of her, her parents and her mate for the rest of their lives for all she knew, so losing her temper wasn't really an option.

The older rabbit raised her gaze back up and shook her head. _'He didn't want to see you angry, so he asked me to do the talking. You know how he gets with these things, honey.'_

Judy chuckled lightly, although she did feel a bit bitter at the same time. "Yeah, I guess that's true. But he still could've at least apologized for pepper spraying my mate."

' _I'm sure he'll handle that sooner or later',_ Bonnie convinced, giving her offspring a fond look. _'But you need to understand our standpoint, though. You'd told us nothing about him, and then you announce he's the one you're going to spend the rest of your life with? It's not exactly easy to deal with that, Bun Bun.'_

The younger member of the Hopps' rolled her eyes, finding the comment rather offensive. "Oh, yeah, 'cause having your parents completely abandon you because of your relationship is? You do realize how much that hurt, right? How worried I was when you guys just disappeared without a word the next day?"

Her mother's countenance grew moodier with each word. _'Yes, I do, and so does your father. We're both very sorry for leaving you in that position, but we needed time and space to think, and you and me both know those are impossible to find on the farm.'_

"So, what? You just drove around talking for a whole day?" the younger bunny questioned, her emotions becoming more and more apparent as the conversation went on.

' _Not exactly. We visited some of your aunts and uncles for support, since we couldn't really think straight ourselves'_ , Bonnie explained.

"That's the thing! You should've felt glad for me, not act like I'd died or something!" Judy disagreed in a harsh whisper, the conversation not helping her headache in the slightest. "I'm happier than ever with Nick, so why can't you at least be?"

The other doe visibly sighed. _'Because neither of us could understand what you two had at the time, and in all honestly, still can't.'_

Judy swallowed back the lump forming in the back of her throat, the prior words having been one of the more devastating ones she'd 'heard' during her life. Her lower lip began trembling. It was all so unfair. "But you guys barely even know him", she muttered with a defeated quiver in her voice.

A notification of a new message from Fru Fru popped up on the top of the screen, but ended up ignored.

' _Yes, which gets me to what I and your father have been talking about for the last few days'_ , Bonnie signed, maintaining her partially collected posture no matter how much seeing her little Bun Bun teary eyed hurt her. _'We realize that we overreacted and never even let you tell your side of the story, so we'd like to have you and Nick come over next Friday and stay for the weekend.'_

Judy's eyes lit back up and widened in surprise. "Wait, are you serious?" she sniffled. "Like… really?"

The matronly rabbit repeated her action from earlier and nodded. _'A chance is the least you deserve after the way we've treated you.'_

"And dad won't shoot Nick?"

Bonnie smiled and shook her head. _'I'll hide the ammo if I'll have to.'_

There was another text from the bed rest patient's shrewd friend, forcing her to acknowledge her presence by shouting out a quick "One minute, Fru!" with her soar throat in the direction of the door before turning back to her mother: "I mean, it'll ruin our plans for Valentine's, but I guess we'll be there. Unless Nick has something against it, that is", she added, her tone an odd mixture of glumness, chirpiness and relief. "Just uh… try to have the kits behave when we get there, alright?"

Instead of simply agreeing and quickly finishing the call with the expected _'See you then, sweetheart'_ , her mother forced her lips into their normal setting and sent a pleading sort of look her daughter's way, expressing that she still had something rather important to tell her. It took the older doe a good moment to find the right words and actually transfer them into coherent motions in her mind.

It was in fact just long enough for her hesitation to overwhelm her body, make her hastily blurt out the aforementioned line with her paws, and then hang up.

Judy blinked at her phone, a rush of most nameable emotions conquering her abnormally warm frame.

She hadn't been forsaken after all.


	19. The trip

' _Yeah, this is waaaay nicer than spending the night on a date back home'_ , Nick stated on a light blueish note, giving the other passenger in the backseat of the annoyingly tiny cab a partly disillusioned, partly exasperated look that screamed _"Pity me, rabbit!"_

Judy, however, had enjoyed his presence long enough to see past the exaggerated act, though the odd looks she caught the driver sending their way every now and then did have an effect on her mood. She spoke in a relatively hushed tone, although it surely wouldn't stop the doe in the front seat from eavesdropping the conversation with her giant black ears: "C'mon, Nick! You're a big fox! Big foxes can handle a few bumps, can't they?"

The whole universe must've been having fun at his expense as the painfully slow vehicle passed the umpteenth not-so-little crater in the dirt road, smashing the top of the fox's head against the vehicle's roof with an audible thud. His paw went to rub the spot of impact as his eyes sent an unamused glare towards the nearly snickering bunny, his ears pinned to his hurting skull. Using only one paw and half of his attention, he scribbled down his reply, having become somewhat of an expert at the action. _'Yeah, 'cause it's totally not about me having a winter coat when it's 80 degrees outside, the fact that the driver's looking at you like you're some mo-'_ , the paper square ran out of space, so he turned it around, _'-nster, or knowing that I'm about five minutes away from being skinned alive by a herd of bloodthirsty rabbits'._

Judy rolled her eyes, her expression surprisingly happy despite the rather harsh, 200-mile-long trip. It was truly nice to get to see her family in its full glory after multiple months of hard work, studying and… other things. She was still not completely sure how her parents would welcome Nick, but knew she could trust her fox to at least stay alive for the duration of their visit. Besides, based on her mother's apologetic behavior last week, there was most likely not much to worry about anyways. "Stop whining, you baby", she scolded playfully, leaning just a bit closer to his comforting, fluffy frame covered by a white T-shirt and denim shorts. A grin took over her muzzle as she closed her eyes, taking in each homely smell that filled the insides of the taxi. "I already told you I'd make this up for you when we got back."

Her eyes were forced open by a single poke on her pink nose, another piece of paper lingering in front of her face. Nick cursed his slightly shaky paws for showing her his nervous state, but other than that, didn't try to hide it. _'First of all, it's babe or bae, not baby. Secondly, are you sure this won't go down like last time? I'm really not in the mood for pouring any more milk down the drain.'_

Judy felt a wave of sympathy wash over her, even feeling a bit of remorse on the behalf of her parents for their 'grand' entrance nearly two weeks ago. Despite her best efforts at trying to figure out just how much distress the whole scenario had caused Nick, the fox had kept himself closed, always brushing the subject off with either a forced joke or a sign of affection to distract her. In a way she felt a little offended that her own mate - the one who was willing to dedicate his whole life to her and risk his reputation in doing so - would disregard her in such manner, but still understood how hard dealing with all the prejudice and the lack of parents of his own for the better part of his life must've been. The car swayed to and fro for a bit as she physically pulled his long muzzle against hers for a quick peck, the dark furred doe having seemingly taken note of the action. "Nick, I'm sure they'll love you once they get to know the real you. Hopefully not as much as I do, but still."

Said mammal gave her a slight, uncertain frown, not really convinced by her attempt at encouragement. _'You really think so, Cottontail? I mean, we'll only be staying for two days. That's not too much time to share between over a hundred curious/scared/hostile carrot-munchers.'_

She sighed at the notion, knowing he had a point. Even though she trusted her siblings to behave properly, which she'd instructed (or threatened) them to do earlier during the week, there would always be the chance of a single nonfiltered sentence, or even a word, ruining the whole visit and thus an important part of her life. The bunny lay her head against his side, staring at the endless fields of green and yellow passing by. "Well, I guess we'll just have to see", she finally answered, her voice a calm monotone that was enough to send the pairing into a tense silence for the rest of the trip.

* * *

The cab came to a halt right outside the Hopps' farm, the who-knows-just-how-many-storied structure built inside a relatively large hill covering the trio of two bunnies and a fox under a cooling shadow as Nick and the driver went through an absolute minimum of awkward small-talk required to pay the fare. Luckily it wasn't long before the car left back for the main road with a few puffs of grey smoke in its trail, leaving the couple alone with their two bags of luggage, distinctly thumping hearts and slightly ragged breaths. They were both just as nervous as they'd been the first time they'd come face to face with her parents.

Fearing another instance of things going downhill right from the moment of the door being opened, Judy took the initiative and made her way up the porch stairs, surprised by not finding a single one of her siblings in eyesight. She glanced over her shoulder to give her mate a final act of reassurance, not blaming him in the slightest for having his tail very slightly between his legs in suspense. Her knuckles knocked against the wooden surface thrice in rapid succession.

There was a nearing sound of at least a dozen feet stump on the supposedly wooden floor, a sound that Judy could only imagine to be there, followed by an older, masculine voice amusedly shout out tries at trying to calm down the younger ones. It was ten and a half more strained seconds before the door actually opened, the first face to greet them belonging to Stu Hopps. His smile slowly tapered to a baffled expression as he came to the realization of who the pale yellow sundress wearing individual was, turning even more flustered when he noticed her companion standing in the background.

' _What are you doing here?'_ he signed whilst glancing back and forth between the two, an army of miniature balls of fluff stealing peeks at the strange canine from behind his back. It was like they'd never seen a fox before, which, in all honesty, was true for the most part. Only a few of the kits were brave enough to make a wild dash for the fox, and even fewer dared to use him as a jungle gym of a sort. Still, it was enough to cut his attention from secretly attempting to comprehend the on-going conversation with the little knowledge of sign language he had, and make him focus on not crushing any of the six or seven curious bunnies either on or around him as he fell onto his rump. Soon enough he was attacked by a second wave of grey, brown and beige, the mass bombarding the poor fox with endless questions as they practically teared his fur off.

Judy, completely oblivious to the chaos and occasional yelps taking place only five feet behind her, could only wonder why her father seemed so surprised. "What do you mean by that? You guys invited us, right?" she inquired, inwardly debating if a quick hug would be appropriate considering their last seeing. Ultimately she decided against it.

Stu didn't have time to carefully shake his head in response as his wife pushed past him, and sealed Judy in an all too normal hug. No more hints were needed for him to figure out who'd set this all up. "Bon?" he asked in total befuddlement, unsure how to feel of the situation. Sure, he'd agreed that they'd gone too far and wanted to fix things between them and their dear daughter, but that didn't mean he was ready to accept the whole concept of ceding her to an unfamiliar fox, who - for all he knew - could've gained her affection through the most unsuitable ways. Then again, the way it seemed suggested that he'd have to come to terms with the situation sooner or later.

There was no way he would let anything happen to any of his kits- especially Judith. She'd faced far too much unnecessary trouble in her life for his liking anyways. Letting a fox close, were it emotionally or in any other manner, was just an assured disaster awaiting to happen.

With a final motherly kiss to her confused daughter's cheek, Bonnie turned around to face her husband, a determined look on her muzzle. She did feel a little guilt for keeping him in the dark regarding the occasion, but at the same time knew that there had been no other way to get him to sleep under the same roof as Nick. To be fully honest, she wasn't too fond of the idea herself, but was willing to at least give the red fox a chance. "You said you wanted to make things better. Well, this is how. I know you don't like it, but they'll be staying for the weekend. And I do mean both of them", she finished sternly, giving her mate little to no space for a counterargument. "Now show Nick to the guestroom while we go catch up with the others, all right?"

Judy, now being hauled away into the depths of her kithood home by her shoulder, only had time to take a hasty look at the mammal she loved, perplexed and concerned as ever. Even the sheer notion of leaving him alone right now was enough to cause her brain to initiate the so called worry-mode, though, the sight of the predator being overrun by the most innocent of mammals did loosen her tenseness a bit.

At least she wouldn't have to listen through each embarrassing comment her siblings would make in no less than fifteen seconds, thanks to her deafness.

After a while of squirming on the ground in slight agony, panic and - surprisingly enough - amusement, Nick managed to shake most of his avid capturers off and rise back to his own two feet, cleaning his shirt from the dust it had gathered.

"You need help with those?" came the flat, a bit deepened voice of Stu Hopps, the buck acceding Nick in slow, intimidating strides. He could tell that the vulpine was nervous just by the way his tail and ears flinched at his presence. And he was happy to keep it that way.

"Yeah, you wouldn't have any acetone by any chance? I'm pretty sure this little guy's superglued to my leg", Nick retorted jokingly, lifting the member off the ground and shaking it a little to demonstrate his point. Unlike the kit, Stu didn't laugh.

"I meant the bags."

Nick raised his eyes to meet the rabbit's amber ones and put on a stupefied attempt at a grin. "Oh. Well, in that case no thanks, sir. I can handle it", he answered politely and grabbed said pieces of luggage, ready to enter what he still imagined to be the last building he'd ever see.

Stu let out a grunt in response, ogling at the tower of a fox. "C'mon, kits, he's had a very long trip. Besides, I think I saw some leftover dessert in the kitchen", he stated suggestively, tilting his head towards the structure. No more words were needed for the young bunnies to race back inside, all giggling and shouting as if there was no tomorrow. He then turned back to Nick, his voice far from the level of jolly he'd used when talking to his offspring only seconds prior: "Look, Nicholas was it? Let me be honest with you. I don't like the fact you're here. To me you're just a stranger from the city endangering my daughter's future, and the only reason why I'm going to let you set a single foot inside that house is because she trusts you. That said, I'll try to act unprejudiced and civilized towards you, but don't think that means I won't use the spray again. I'm doing this for her sake, not for yours. Are we clear?"

The addressee of the tirade, whose smirk had faded completely at this point, jiggled his head in confirmation, stunned by the sudden forwardness coming from the head of the Hopps-clan. It wasn't the perfect welcoming speech but it still surpassed his expectations by a landslide (and a half). "So… a fresh start?" he added cautiously and lay the other bag back down in order to offer his right paw for a shake.

The action was replied with a brief stare, a stubborn nod and finally an assent to the waiting paw. "You'll be stayin' in the guestroom in the fifth floor. I'll show you to the elevators."

They began making their way inside the sturdy building in silence, the fox trailing right behind the older rabbit while trying to take in as many details as possible. He'd never visited, nor even seen a burrow before. The pair stepped through the doorway into the hallway, Nick closing the door behind them. The general look of the colorful space was beyond his initial beliefs: the pinkish, supposedly stone walls were all smooth and round, a design which seemed to apply for nearly everything else from the stairs on their front left to the furniture in the living room on their right side. The atmosphere felt very cozy and - much to the canine's pleasure - roomy, the only thing taking away from that being the nearly fifty-headed crowd occupying the dark wooden plank flooring, specifically waiting for their guest, or in this case, sister's mate to arrive.

There was a collective astonished sigh before the room exploded in loud whispers, countless questions and dumbfounded comments, all of which drowned in the sea of booming voice before making it to Nick's ears. Stu simply gave him, as well as the herd of mostly teenaged rabbits, an unentertained look and waded through the mob and continued down the long corridor that led all the way to the other side of the residency, the enthusiastic bunch following not even two steps behind them. They took a left turn at the second last crossing and arrived at the two, hotel-like elevators, both of which looked almost as out of place as the vulpine. A push of a button and a gesture for the red fox to enter found the two males at the brink of separation.

"Fifth floor, the fourth door on the right. The bathroom's down the hall. I'm assuming Bon wants you to have dinner with us so be ready by half six. You 'n' Jude are going to have a whole lot of explainin' to do."

And with that, the doors slid closed.


	20. One down

Nick stood in the very slowly ascending metal box, accompanied by two of the Hopps does somewhere in their late-teens. On his earlier quest trying to survive all the way to the guestroom, it had become apparent to the fox that the burrow was actually much more massive than he'd first thought, the better part of the structure - which contained most of the kits' rooms - having been built underground. From what he could gather, it seemed the deeper down a room was, the older the inhabitant would be.

And the guestroom just happened to be located in the official angst and appearance pressure section.

"Aww, why not?" the smaller of the two beige, miniature models of Judy whined, looking up at the fox with pleading, brown eyes. This had to have been the longest elevator ride he'd ever experienced.

"Because my _tail_ isn't a plushie or a toy", he emphasized with a wag of the fuzzy appendage. "Besides I don't want to make your sister jealous. I'm already in a big enough of a pickle as it is."

A devious grin took over the other bunny's muzzle. "Speakin' o' pickles", she began, her voice reaching dangerous levels of suggestive, "how do you guys eve-".

Nick cut her off before the situation could get out of paw, knowing far too well what the rabbit was getting at. "Shouldn't you two be combing your fur and complain how you were born in the wrong generation or something?" he blurted out with a long leer of distaste. "I'm totally going to tell on you for harassing me by the way, so don't be surprised when your dad shows up behind your door with an award."

The girls exchanged amused looks and a few whispers before turning back to face the predator, the elevator finally coming to a halt. As the doors opened, the first rabbit captured his attention once more, talking whilst walking into the arched hallway beside the vulpine. "I'm Riley and this is Suzy. Welcome to the family, Mr. Fox", she chirped, a wide smile plastered on her face.

The sentence caused Nick to completely stop in his tracks and marvel if he'd heard correctly. Standing rigid, he processed through each word carefully and wondered just what and how much they meant to him. He was in fact so deep in his own blur of sentiments that he never even felt a pair of padless paws run through the softness of his tail until the perpetrator, Suzy, audibly gasped in partial hilarity and delight, bringing him back into the harsh reality in an instant. Who knew rabbits made such good hustlers?

"I'm so off my game", he sighed with a defeated attitude, nudged himself free from the loose grip of his unofficial sister-in-law, and proceeded on his path to where he only assumed the dining room was, not so much as daring to look behind him as his pinned down ears listened for any coherent syllables amidst the barely smothered giggles. "Maybe I really am getting old", he whispered to himself in a very hushed tone as he turned a corner to what he guessed was the path to the living room he'd seen earlier, only now getting a real proof of the rumors concerning rabbits' hearing as the two girls boomed into uncontrollable laughter well over a dozen feet behind his back.

After a few more moments of unsurely/awkwardly directing through the light reddish, curvy, crowded maze also known as the ground floor of the Hopps' residency, Nick found himself back at the general direction of the front door, his ears picking up less and less unrecognizable voices from the other side of the wall as he neared the large opening with constantly shrinking self-confidence. Soon enough the whole room fell into what seemed like an anticipatory silence, the only thing breaking the tense atmosphere being the sound of Nick's claws scraping against the dark flooring.

He had no idea how, but his feet carried him through the entryway without stopping at the sight of at least twice as many erect ears and googly eyes than he'd seen in all of his life living in Zootopia. He'd never minded being the center of attention, but, then again, the attention he'd usually received had been a little different from this. Most of the diverse group was gathered around the very other end of the almost hall-like room, the half-circle of fur surrounding one of the nine green, bulky and, most of all, old sofas. He didn't need to guess twice why as his eyes fell onto his mate, who was curled up in a ball, practically sunken in the cushions.

"Save me!" Judy squeaked from behind the wall of still bewildered rabbits, her tone alone enough to portray the level of embarrassment she was wallowing in. There were numerous chuckles and grins at their sister's voice, but most of them soon evaporated as Nick took another few steps forward, continuously approaching the group with a mask of hidden anxiety.

"Oh wow", he sighed in half overdone fashion with an added whistle, stopping right in front of the fluffy barricade. "I'm not gonna have to learn all of your names, am I?" he joked halfheartedly and looked down at the few rabbits in his way, a forced grin on his muzzle. He never received a response other than their noses hypnotically twitching in interest.

"Tough crowd, huh?" he stated with a rub of his neck and a clumsy chuckle, taking note of Judy motioning for him to hurry up, having finally unwrapped herself to some degree. "Um… Can I get through? Pretty please?"

A pathway slowly formed between the dividing groups, Nick not wasting his chance as the brownish young buck sitting next to his bunny made him just enough room to squeeze in on the couch. He immediately dug out a pen and around a dozen notes from his pocket, knowing that he wouldn't have too much time to talk to his companion before the room would once again be filled with nearly unbearable levels of commotion. It didn't come as a surprise when he felt a pair of arms fling around his waist, Judy, as usual, trying to find comfort in his proximity. _'Do I even want to know what you guys were talking about?'_ he wrote, covering the light blue note with the back of his paw from any curious eyes to the best of his ability- he'd probably never come to understand a rabbit's concept of privacy.

Judy smiled at the question as well as the gaped mouths of her siblings, the hidden flush on her cheeks disappearing with each inch she pressed herself closer against the fox's T-shirt. "I'll uh… tell you later", she mumbled, not wishing to repeat the prior discussion of Nick's traits (and the use of them) as a predator. "Are you okay? Dad didn't hurt you or anything, right?"

Stuck mentally debating between a fully honest and a slightly altered version of the truth for an answer, Nick didn't have time to respond as an unfamiliar voice somewhere from the ocean of mostly youngsters broke the flabbergasted silence: "How come you're so thin?"

The red fox's head snapped in the direction of the young, high-pitched yet masculine voice, his right eyebrow raised all the way to the roof. A small circle formed around the boy who'd presented the inquiry, the other kits surprisingly still quiet as rocks unlike before. Genuinely puzzled, Nick spoke, a glint of amusement in his otherwise empty voice: "Whaddaya mean?"

The kit looked at him with curious, yet nervous eyes. "Well, you're a fox, aren't ya? And you eat meat, right?"

Tilting his head just the tiniest bit, Nick let out an affirmative hum. "To stay alive, yes, occasionally."

"Then why do you look like a toothpick and not big and strong like Gid?"

A wide smile spread across the vulpine's muzzle, finding the comment rather humorous instead of insulting. "You mean the only other fox in a hundred mile radius, whose pies your sister here can't shut up about?"

He received a few stifled chuckles, a pair of purple, attentive eyes and a careful nod in response.

"Well, let's just say he has a pretty much unlimited source of unsuspecting little bunnies to munch up here in the countryside, while your sister only lets me eat one per day back home", he stated and grinned innocently, noticing the oldest rabbits of the bunch practically double over in laughter and the youngest look around in confusion and very slight terror, the joke having worked almost too perfectly.

It was a single second later he learned why the reaction seemed so extreme as his ears picked up a patient thumping sound originating from behind his back. "Speaking of 'munching up'", Bonnie began, her tone unreadable as her foot beat a rhythm against the floor, clearly not too fond of the innuendo, "-food's ready. I'm sure you're both starving after the long trip, are you not?"

Nick shifted himself so he could see the matronly doe over his shoulder, Judy realizing her mother's presence as well, even though she had little idea what was going on. Awkwardly maintaining his grinned look, the canid hastily rose from the all-too-low seat and helped Judy mimic the action while giving his best attempt at a smooth reply: "You know me too well, Mrs. Hopps. Besides, I don't think I could ever say no to this smell anyways".

The pure relief he experienced as he saw the corners of the elderly rabbit's mouth curl into a nearly unnoticeable smile was nothing short of indescribable. "Oh, shush. Now come on before the soup gets cold." With that Bonnie turned around and waddled back to and around the corner, the pairing exchanging understanding looks before trailing after her with some of Judy's older siblings. Miraculously none of the drool or snot covered puffs of fur followed them over the threshold.

"So… you and Dad are fine?" Judy inquired in an assuming tone as they entered the dining room, instantly noticing their reserved spots next to her parents at the very end of one of the three long and wide tables. Unlike everyone else, they wouldn't have to fetch their own portions from the giant pot placed on top of the counter, her mother having already put together two bowls of the classic veggie soup from her kithood for them.

Nervously snapping back to reality as Judy guided him towards their seats by the paw, Nick shrugged and once again dug out the notes. Even with his gaze lowered to inspect the paper square, he couldn't help noticing most of the mammals in the room pause and stare at him, and his bunny, for a brief moment before reluctantly returning to filling their stomachs with nutrition. One of those individuals was the buck in question, sitting at the corner seat of the table in his blue overalls and olive green shirt opposite to his rather innocuous- and even friendly-looking wife. _'A little tense but nothing an awkward twenty minute dinner can't fix'_.

Being the fine gentlefox he was, or at least acting like one in order to gain some desperate bonus points in front of his mate's parents, Nick helped Judy with her chair before sitting down himself, catching both the amused roll of her eyes as well as Bonnie's barely audible, pleased hum. Of course he couldn't possibly know if the reaction had been a genuine one, but he still considered it better than the completely bland look her husband sent his way.

It was no miracle that the older doe decided to be the first one to open her mouth, giving their guest a weak smile. "I remembered you said something about seabass, so I figured I'd throw something special together", she spoke casually. The mention of fish had Nick finally notice that the steaming broth under his nose was no vegetable mush at all, instead a creamy soup with chunks of potatoes and mouthwateringly white pieces of his favorite seafood, the dish alone enough for his tail to begin its subtle side to side motion. "I don't get to cook meat all that often, so I can only hope it's up to par."

The doe's, like many others', eyes never left his snout as he directed a spoonful of the soup in his mouth, the soft taste of the bass instantly mesmerizing every last one of his taste buds. Despite having his eyelids blocking his field of vision, the fox knew his mate was smiling widely at his reaction- it was too bad she hadn't exactly inherited her mother's culinary skills. "Gosh, this is good!" he exclaimed with a distinct smack of his lips. "Forget par, this is birdie! Tell me there's more of this stuff and I just might eat myself to death."

Her expression as well as her mind state softening remarkably, Bonnie watched as her daughter's mate swiftly dug into his portion for some more. "Consider it an apology for last time", she remarked in a slightly less nonchalant voice, her sincere remorsefulness - even if only a small amount - clearly showing in her tone.

The vulpine, having already parted his lips for a response, was cut off by the bunny beside him, her focus more on her mother than her father, who'd been, and still was, quietly sipping on his stew: "Umm, sorry to interrupt, but could you guys use sign too if that's not too much trouble? I'd really like to stay on track on this one…"

There was a pair of half subconscious nods before the spotlight quickly turned back to Nick. "Well, I'm sad to say I don't know any of that paw wooshy stuff yet, so I guess she'll have to manage with just your input", he stated blithely, and continued: "Anyways, what I was trying to say is that you really don't have to apologize for anything. I completely understand your judgement".

As expected, both members of the elderly pair casted confused glances at him upon hearing this. Paws cutting the air and eyebrows furrowed, Bonnie questioned the declaration both audibly and by sign, giving Judy the chance to catch on: "Of course we do, Nicholas! We assaulted you! That's not something you just sweep under the rug and forget about."

Said fox chomped down another load of his food, inducing short break in the conversation. "You're right, but it was still something any decent parent would've done in that situation, and therefore completely justified", he retorted, not at all surprised by the counterargument- having spent so many years living off of scams definitely helped reading mammals' behavior. "Besides, a little stinging isn't going to kill me."

Stu let out a distinct snort, the narrowest and slightest of smiles imaginable creeping up to his muzzle. "And here I thought you'd sue us over that."

"Nah, I've had worse", the red fox uttered. "Well that, and I don't think Cottontail here would've helped me with all the law stuff anyways." Unsurprisingly, there were more than a few grins at the nickname all around the room, seemingly everyone listening to the chat with perked interest, or that is at least judging by all the hundred and fifty thousand ears surrounding him.

"Speaking of which, I understand you go to the same college as our Judy", Bonnie cut in, her intentions of keeping up the small talk left very much undisguised.

Nick nodded. "Yeah, that's actually how we met. She sat in front of me on a lecture, and I got annoyed because her ears were blocking my view, and then I kinda yelled at her and was thrown out of class, and for some reason she came to apologize to me for embarrassing me although it was clearly my fault, and… I'm not really sure, I guess I just found it really cute", he explained briefly, still quite hazed by how he'd ended up with such an amazing, non-fox mammal himself. "Please, don't tell her I said that, by the way. I don't think my stomach can-"

Had it not been for the numerous silent chuckles her siblings let out simultaneously, or the fact that she'd become quite the expert at lip reading certain annoying words used against her on a daily basis, Judy would probably have spared her dumb fox from a not-too-gentle punch to his side, the room instantly exploding in light laughter-like motion at his supposed small wince. Even her father seemed to free a chuckle or two.

"-handle… physical contact… right now", he finished in the most believable act of agony possible, rubbing the spot of impact with his free paw. The rabbit obviously thought that being on home turf meant completely avoiding vengeance.

"Jerk", she blurted out and turned back to her food after glaring at the culprit for a good moment. Little did she know, Nick's tail was already inching its way towards hers, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

With the mood now much more relaxed, Stu finally felt comfortable enough to present a question of his own: "So, you were both okay with the whole interspecies thing? Like right away?"

Having gotten no chances at answering anything yet, Judy quickly assumed control over the situation, letting out an entertained "Hmpf!" before speaking. "Of course we weren't!" she exclaimed, her bowl half empty. "I mean I was freaking out before our first date, and from what I gathered, Nick was even a bigger mess than me. Obviously I was scared how mammals would react, but what worried me the most was what you guys would think."

Guilt clutching at his heart, Stu continued on the topic with mild discomfort: "And how _have_ others reacted then? I'd imagine there are lots of folks out there, who are just as… confused by all this as we are. Especially in a big city like Zootopia".

"I guess…" she began, her façade expressionless as she had to think about her answer for a short moment. "But we've only come across a couple, who've been…I don't know, disgusted by what we have going on. That being said, all of our friends have been really supportive and overall understanding."

"So, basically we haven't received any death threats in the mail, if that's what you're asking. At least not yet", Nick added with a smirk and returned to empty his bowl, the once again present scattered giggles only adding to his confidence. Maybe the weekend wouldn't be so bad after all.

Bonnie shook her head in disbelief: "How do you even deal with all of that? I could never handle drawing that much attention just by walking down the street or holding paws".

Nick shrugged, gulping down the very last spoonful of his dish, only hoping he didn't come across as rude, having gobbled everything down seemingly before anyone else. "My best guess is that we just trust each other not to care about any of that. I know I'm _waaay_ happier now than I was before meeting your daughter, so why should I let some stranger's opinion get in the way? The only way I'll ever leave her is if she wants me to."

As a responsible mother of nearly 300, Bonnie Hopps couldn't have been more satisfied with the answer. Her smile widened as she nodded and thought that perhaps her daughter really had made a good decision in terms of choosing a lifelong mate. Her voice perfectly friendly and normal, she parted her lips and flung around her arms: "Have you thought of having kits yet?"

Three things took place in the following moments: Judy nearly chocked on her liquid food and began a shocked coughing fit, Nick's tail fell from its earlier puckish, revenge-seeking position, brushing against her sensitive one as it did so, and finally, Judy's coughing fit worsened- by a lot. The slack-jawed fox, as well as the older buck, were far too perplexed to so much as move, so it was the older doe, who stood up, walked over, and padded the panicking grey mass to the back with increasing force, ultimately resulting in one last noisy explosion and a loud gasp.

"You're serious?" she inquired with a hoarse throat, gazing up at her mother's retreating eyes. As crazy as it sounds, rabbits actually took reproduction very seriously, and to ask something like her mother just did would have to mean just one thing: acceptance.

' _Well, I think I have the right to know what sorta grandkits I'm getting, don't you think?'_ she only signed, smiling fondly at her little emotional mess of a bunny. It might've been the several prior days of stressful thinking, or purely the odd canid's kindly demeanor, but something had definitely accustomed her to the idea of a fox son-in-law over the course of the dinner.

"B-b-but he's only been here for like twenty minutes", Judy stammered, unable to apprehend her mother's sudden change of heart. Her paws went to instinctively squeeze at her confused mate's own ones.

' _Sweetie, I've had enough of your sisters' boyfriends sit at this table to tell who the better candidates are.'_

"So you don't think he's a mistake anymore?" she confirmed, feeling her eyes moisten with each syllable.

' _No, I still think he's a mistake alright. But I can't risk you not making one of the best mistakes of your life, can I?'_


	21. Heavy talk

' _YOU TOLD HER WHAT?!_ ' Nick exclaimed on one of the typical, square-shaped notes, looming over Judy, who sat on the edge of the otherwise empty guestroom's lonely bed. His shocked face was wrinkled to a barely readable setting as his other paw shook her by her shoulder as if she'd gone insane.

The dinner had ended shortly after the two does had gotten themselves tangled in some incoherent and mainly weepy hug sequence, the clearly flabbergasted and discomforted Stu having made himself scarce during the episode, much to Nick's disappointment, though not surprise. However, what really bothered him more was missing the conversation that had followed the question concerning his third greatest fear after earthworms and a certain fennec in a pissed off condition- _kits_.

"That we'd adopt", she repeated nonchalantly, wiping away the very last drips of the happiness caused moisture from the fur below her eyes. Still, her sloppy grin did falter a degree or two as she realized his not-too-calm state regarding the subject at paw. "I mean… it's not like we can, you know… go the biological route", she mumbled carefully, watching her clearly disoriented mate detach his paw from her torso to write down another comment, which he then lingered in front of her.

' _Are you out of your mind?! We've never talked about this stuff and you just go and announce something like that? Without even asking me?'_

It wasn't that he had a particular distaste for their round the clock drooling schedules, smelly diapers and constant wailing in front of complete strangers at random supermarket aisles. No, he could handle those aspects with only minor difficulty if he deemed it necessary and worthy. Or at least that's what he thought, based on the things he'd seen on some cheesy soap operas and cringe-worthy comedy shows back in the day. Neither did he have any problem with hanging around other mammals' offspring.

The bunny's ears fell back a little as she realized her mistake. "You don't want kits?" she inquired in a somewhat timid voice, gazing up into his unblinking eyes for any sign of confirmation, the green orbs hovering only a snout and a half away from her violet ones.

Nick's restless motioning came to a halt as he struggled for an answer, his paw that held the pen outright freezing in place along with the cogwheels inside his head. A full month of serious dating and a commitment to never leave this mammal's side no matter what, and he'd still been dumb enough not to spend a single second thinking about their shared future.

Instead of scribbling her a reply, which he'd finally come up with, the fox turned around, and walked over to the rabbit's half emptied black and white backpack that had been left on the floor after their earlier process of unpacking had been cut off by the current discussion, having no interest in continuing the discussion via ink. He wanted Judy to get a clear picture of his emotions, and that would be simply impossible without some mechanical assist.

The bunny was not one bit surprised as she saw him pull out a dark blue ring box, open it, return to his earlier position, and hold it in front of her on his knees. That being said, she could still feel her heart flutter for a beat or twenty-seven before skipping one in disappointment. Out of all the possible options she'd had for a container for her hearing aids, she'd thought it would be a good idea to choose that particular one. Sometimes she wondered how Nick could allow her to call him a dumb fox, considering her own, easily worse idiocy at times. For now though, she grabbed the small earpieces, set them up, and focused back on the talk.

Seeing his rabbit all prepared, Nick climbed onto the bed next to her and curled his neck closer to the base of her ear, instinctively taking one of her soft paws into his own as her other one found its way onto his throat. "I… I've never thought about any of that, to be honest", he confessed, gently running the pad of his thumb over her padless, silky palm. "I mean, I've lived most of my life as a borderline criminal with Finn scamming others out of their supposedly well-deserved money. Plus I'm still in college, and haven't had a stable job since being a professional burden at age eight. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't really consider that dad-material."

Pushing him back to get a clear view on his eyes, Judy let out a partly relieved sigh and pressed on one of his fingers. She was glad the premise of one day starting a family wasn't completely off the table. "Nick, we've already gone over this. Don't you dare tell me you're a bad mammal for trying to help your mother all alone when everyone else at your age were still playing with frigging Legos."

Nick all but snorted at her, trying to reach her hearing-radius once more only to be held back by her surprisingly firm paw. In a way it was unfair how easy it was for her to control any given conversation without any backlash thanks to her _disability_.

"And I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm still in college too", she quipped with a half playful expression. "Of course we'd wait until we'd be financially ready. I've fought all my life to become a lawyer and am not planning on throwing it all away just because of a stupid and rushed decision."

Feeling the pressure against his neck slacken, Nick could finally share his opinion again: "And yet here you are sitting with the biggest one of your life".

"Oh, so you admit that you're stupid?"

Although out of the bunny's vision, Nick rolled his eyes and fought the inevitable grin tugging at the corners of his lips. "No, but I am saying that you've been studying _and_ sleeping way less since we met, Cottontail. Give it a month or two and you'll start considering Bugga Burger as a sensible career choice."

"In your dreams, Slick", Judy huffed in amusement, practically able to feel his earlier panicky behavior melt under her touch as she leaned her forehead against his supporting arm. "You're just jealous that I get better grades than you."

There was a light chuckle that managed to flee through the gap between Nick's curved lips before the room was consumed by silence, both members of the odd pair simply enjoying the other's presence and the comfort it gave them. Neither of them could be described as calm though, as they both knew there were still things to be discussed. A good moment of hesitation later Nick managed to force his muzzle apart, a feeling very close to guilt slowly fading his genuine smirk away into a much more serious expression.

His mildly damp, nuzzle-seeking nose having never left the contiguity with the fur on top of her head, the vulpine merely tilted his muzzle to get a better angle at the hearing aid and spoke, his voice sounding unusually wary to the rabbit clinched to his side: "Fluff, please don't punch me for this, but..." He sighed heavily. "But what if something… would happen to us?"

"What do you mean?" she inquired a little cautiously, trying to get a read on his expression but to no avail.

"Well, I uh-", he stammered, paying very careful attention to how he should order his words in order to avoid violence. "Even though I _know_ , for a rock solid fact, that you love me-".

"Nice work, detective".

Nick ignored the terribly mistimed jest and continued with his own statement, not even bothering to pause and act amused. "I'm still afraid that you'd leave me."

Even the last little hint of a smile fell from the bunny's muzzle at hearing this.

"I know it sounds crazy, but it's still possible. I don't want the kit to go through the same crap as me if we do end up getting one."

Judy tried to protest even the assumption that she'd ever leave him, but found herself completely mute due to the lump now forming in her throat. It took her several attempts and vast concentration just to utter his name. "Nick… We'd never be having this conversation in the first place if I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. Even if you don't want kits."

"Promise?"

"A thousand times over if you make me, Slick", she cooed, pulling him lower by the neckline of his T-shirt to reach the tip of his snout for a more than a little prolonged kiss. "You don't have to give me an answer now as long as you'll think about it, alright?"

Nick responded to her attempt at intimacy, only pulling back when she parted for her second deep huff of breath. "I don't think you're leaving me much of a choice here, Carrots. What kind of options have you thought about?"

"Two foxes. One boy and one girl", she declared with no hesitation whatsoever, not even having to take a look at the vulpine's expression to know its surprised state.

"Wow, Fluff", Nick astonished. "I wouldn't be amazed if you had picked the names by now. Why no bunnies though?"

"Simple. I want more foxes in my life. It would be easier for the kits to have a sibling of the same species too. Less bullying over their parents being freaks and stuff", she added with sarcasm and a smirk. "And you don't have to worry about the legal matters by the way. We'll have the same exact rights as any other different sex couple out there as long as we get married."

Needless to say, Nick's whole mouth and throat went dry - to put it lightly - at the very last word, immediately sending the fox into a coughing frenzy. He'd never be able to explain how she could scare him so much with such unrealistically pleasant notions.

It was during this loud coughing fit that the several pairs of feet right behind the locked wooden door made their silent exit down the long hallway and back to the elevator, their common objective to find the rest of their clan to share the fresh information regarding their sister's odd partner with.

* * *

Bonnie wiped her soaked paws in the dishcloth hanging from the handle of one of the dark brown kitchen cabinets, having just finished washing the dirty plates and cutlery with the help of six of her 13-year-old kits. Every other day there would be an official raffle that determined which litter would get the honor to serve as their mother's personal helpers, an event so traditional that she'd even heard rumors of her oldest kits running a betting pool on it. Of course she'd never found any evidence of this happening taken how fast the message of an incoming ambush seemed to travel within the walls of the burrow.

Either way, busting this scheme was a task for another day as right now she needed to find her clearly less than chirpy husband and properly talk with him for the first time since their daughter's mate's arrival. Thankfully the last twenty-something years had taught her a thing or two about the all-too-emotional buck, which definitely eased her search around the farm. Before following her gut instincts outside to the fields though, she climbed upstairs and checked their own bedroom in case she had misread the reason for his premature departure earlier. Not finding a single soul, as she suspected, the grey furred and sky blue shirted doe headed out the front door to the slowly cooling air of the late-winter evening. Stu had always had a habit of relieving his frustration through physical work rather than, a very useful trait for a farmer, although not so much for a solicitous father of 276 rather demanding attention seekers.

It was well under five minutes later that she found the round-cheeked buck at the small, though relatively tall, tool shed next to the quarter of an acre of yet to be harvested white potatoes, the conveniently loud and repetitive banging of a hammer hitting both metal and wood having led her there. The cedar-colored rabbit was hunched on his knees on the slightly tilted rooftop barely twice his size in width, apparently in the process of switching the aged planks to newer, non-rotten ones. The noise ceased as he put the hammer down and set another long nail in its place, fumbling furiously.

"What have I told you about using that ladder alone", Bonnie chided gently, having to raise her chin quite a bit to get a good visual on her husband, who nearly jumped as a result of being pulled out of the depths of his mind.

"Geez, Bon! At least the ladder won't give me a heart attack", he retorted, holding his paw over his chest in genuine scare.

"Everything gives you a heart attack, Stu", she said with a fond smile, trying her best to look as innocent as a bunny at her age could. The tactic proved little to no use as her mate merely sighed, shook his head and turned back around to resume his work. "Honey, I'm sorry. I should've told you before they arrived."

"Carrot sticks right you should've", he snorted agitatedly. "I don't get how you can trust the fella."

"Aw c'mon, Stu! Didn't you see how nervous and polite he was acting at the table? There's no doubt in my mind that he's in love with Judy."

"And there's no doubt in mine that he's hiding something for the same reason", the buck stated flatly, glancing over his shoulder to look down at her. "I've heard enough stories about his kind to know not to let down my guard."

Bonnie sighed knowingly. Debating with this particular rabbit had always been far too easy, no matter the subject. "And where or who have you heard those stories from?"

Stu looked puzzled but answered nonetheless. "Pretty much from everyone in a ten mile radius. How come?"

"Oh, no reason. Just trying to put things into perspective", she told him with a stale expression, which quickly turned into a slightly victorious one. "Say, which one do you think knows more about foxes: your farmer friends who base their judgmental attitude on a single bad encounter and mostly untruthful rumors they've heard from other farmers, or your own daughter who encounters all types of mammals on a daily basis and has gone so far as become mates with her natural enemy? I understand that you want to be careful around Nick, but at least have some faith in Judy."

The rabbit on the rooftop opened his mouth in order to protest but found his own arguments irrational before they so much as made it to his vocal chords. "I… I'm just tryna protect her, Bon."

"Stu, she's not a kit anymore. No matter how much we disagree with her choices, we still can't change them. All we can do is be supportive and hope for the best", she convinced, seeing the buck's frustration crumble apart bit by bit. "You'll be seeing a lot more of that fox in the future so why not get on good terms now? Unlike us, that boy's done nothing wrong so far."

A drawn-out sigh ensued, followed by an even longer silence of the Hopps patriarch weighing his options. It would be very hard, if not impossible, to wash his mind clean from all the unacknowledged prejudice he'd gathered over the decades.

Then again, trying to live knowing he was preventing his little bun, whose life had thrown her enough challenges already, from being completely happy didn't seem like a reasonable alternative either.

Before he could properly reflect on his thoughts though, two distant and, most of all, urgent voices reached his drooped ears, causing him to raise his gaze up at the two boys racing toward the lonely shed. He and his wife exchanged confused and partially worried looks as she turned away from him and began hurrying towards the two young little figures, Jonathan and Michael by the looks of it.

Stu watched as the three long eared mammals met each other some distance away, his attempts at eavesdropping the conversation proving worthless as Bonnie got the two kits to calm down and stop screaming. Still, the chat seemed rather intense and was already over before he could so much as guess what it was about. He noticed his wife send him a brief distressed glare before the trio parted ways, the doe leaving in the general direction of the main structure while the boys made a beeline straight to his position.

"Hi, boys! What's the- Hey!" he shouted and stood up, taken aback by the kits immediately taking a hold of the ladder and carrying it away from the wall. "What do you two think you're doing?"

"Sorry, Dad", the older one of the two light brown furred rabbits, Jonathan, said, a truly apologetic look in his hazelnut colored eyes. "Mom told us not to let you down for five to ten minutes."

"Wha- Why?" Stu stuttered, the recently buried frustration crawling its way back up to his mind along with drips of worry. "What's going on?"

"She thought you'd hurt Judy's boyfriend", the ten-year-old Michael announced, his voice free of any guilt at the situation, much unlike his brother's.

Stu could only blink at them in confusion. "Why would I wanna hurt him?"

"Ethan and Emma told us that they heard Nick call himself a criminal when he was talking with Judy about having kits just a few minutes ago", Jonathan explained, rubbing the back of his head nervously at the sight of his father's eyes flare with anger. Had it not been for the older buck's bad hip preventing him from making the 6-foot drop, the fox known as Nicholas Wilde would've most likely already been nothing but a hide on their doorstep. "They said it didn't sound like a joke either."

* * *

"Geez, Nick! It's not _that_ hot in here", Judy sneered teasingly, looking up at the heavily, though inaudibly, panting fox's gaped snout and slightly hanging tongue. The pair had just finished unpacking and were now navigating through the pink halls of the huge family compound paw in paw, their target to reach the front door from where they would proceed to the dozens of blueberry bushes, the second biggest reason Nick was in Bunnyburrow in the first place, on the far edge of the property.

' _It's hot everywhere I go, Fluff. I can't really help my perfect looks'_ , came the snarky written remark, the fox having consciously shut his muzzle in what she could only guess was embarrassment.

"Oh, believe me, I've noticed and certainly don't mind", Judy hummed contently with a cheeky grin of her own, taking note of the spaciousness of the usually cramped rooms as they passed by each doorway. She didn't put much thought into it though as not having Nick getting chased by yet another twenty or so of her still curious brothers and sisters did feel like a nice change. "You should get your fur cut when we get back to the city though", she stated in a thoughtful tone, letting her imagination run free as she glanced up and down at his slim frame covered by a thick layer of fuzz. "I kinda wanna see you rock a summer style for a while."

The canid shot her an odd look and untied their intertwined paws to scribble once again, the two at last stepping out the front entrance into the fresh air. _'You know, as lovely as fulfilling the deepest of your fantasies sounds, I'm not really sure if I'm up for paying around fifty bucks just to freeze to death each and every morning I get out of bed.'_

"Nick, it's not like that", Judy said meekly, a slight blush creeping up to her cheeks. How the fox still managed to cause such reaction from her after all the nights they'd spent together was a mystery. Her voice quickly shifted back to its normal and confident state however. "One: you always complain how hot it is in my apartment and pretty much everywhere else than outside. Two: one of my brothers is a furdresser so the whole thing would be free and you could have it practically right away. Three: you don't even own a bed, jerk."

Nick seemed to snort and was already scrawling on another note, when he suddenly came to a full halt, his ears perking up in partial confusion and curiosity. Not even having made it fifty feet from the porch, Judy turned in the same direction as the vulpine to see the reason for the interruption. The last thing she was expecting to find was her mother storming towards them, descending the large, healthy green hill that the burrow had been built into, anger and intimidation evident in her general posture.

"Nicholas!" she shouted in a low grumble, sending glares of daggers at the gulping fox.

Despite his basic instincts telling him to do so, Nick didn't allow his usual protective smirk to take over his current unsure expression, knowing that the older doe must've had a good reason to once again change moods all the sudden. The last thing he needed was not to only seem like a threat to her deaf daughter's future, but an ignorant threat at that. With one last mostly distressed glance at the bunny beside him, he spoke: "What seems to be the problem, Mrs. Hopps?"

Bonnie stopped in front of the pair with crossed arms and a stern stance, regarding the younger rabbit with a half-done nod. "You have two seconds to explain why two of my sons ran to tell me that you're a criminal before Stu comes and blasts you a new hole under that tail of yours."

"Oh", Nick said dryly, now understanding the situation clearly. "Any way we could delay that appointment with your husband? I'm not sure two seconds is going to quite cut it."

"Less jokes and more talk", came the sharp reply. Judy tried to open her mouth to ask about the topic only to have her mother's paws tell her to can it and wait for a moment. Interrogating the two separately was the most certain way to get the whole truth.

The red fox sighed heavily and closed his eyes, steeling himself for the moments to come. A pained, protective smirk finally took its standard position as Nick began with the shortened version of his biography, following a similar pattern as just a week prior.


	22. Valentine's spirit

Stu raced across the farmland with the maximum speed the muscles of his hind legs could provide him with, passing a plantation after another on his conquest to punch a hole through the all-too-untrustworthy orange vulpine. An unreasonably large pitchfork, which he'd grabbed from the tool shed after finally having been allowed back down to ground level just a minute or so ago, swayed in his paws as his sturdy but aged character bounced up and down the narrow dirt path, a mixed expression of contempt and worry spread across his muzzle. Despite all the daily exercise he'd received through demanding physical work throughout the years, there was no denying that his body - mainly the hip and lower back area - had to fight through stabs of pain with each long stride he took.

The mid-February sun was still dimly shining over the green and relatively flat landscape, providing ever less warmth as it sunk lower and lower behind the rather familiar, window covered grass hill ahead of him. It took Stu a great effort to make the last hundredsomething yards to arrive at the built-in structure he called home, rushing through the back entrance with little caution to any possible damage inflicted to the door as he slammed it back shut. Unlike on any normal day, the middle of the long hallway leading to the front of the building wasn't crowded with an unorganized line to the two, annoyingly slow elevators. Not that they would even be in use once the Hopps' official panic plan had started anyways. Instead there was a large group of his older kits practically pressed against the small, square-shaped windows of the front door, muttering and spying on whatever event was taking place outside.

"Every- everyone's in their rooms already, right?" Stu bellowed inquiringly to the number of young adults as he ran down the pinkish corridor with ragged breath. Apart from the bunnies at the very front, they all glanced back at him, each one's ears hanging limp behind their backs.

Needless to say, the sight didn't exactly help to calm his suspicions. "Yeah, but we're pretty sure no one's gonna have to hide from him at this point, Dad", came the low reply from one of the does in the crowd. The meanings of both the words as well as the sentimental tone they were delivered with never reached the committed buck's brain as he was already pushing his way to, and out, the doorway, the pitchfork proving to be quite the challenge to carry in such a tight space without accidentally stabbing one of his own offspring.

What he found outside exceeded even the wildest and most irrational of situations his imagination had been able to come up with in the last few moments. The tall fox was cradled over the older one of the two grey bunnies, very quietly crying and gasping in her embrace. Judy stood next to them, seemingly letting out a few sniffles herself as her paws lightly patted on his back in an attempt to comfort the ruin of a mammal.

Personally witnessing his family still alive and well, Stu could finally properly exhale and relax his mind- at least to some degree. Though everything seemed to be under control for the moment, there still was a suspicious criminal standing on his property, only a slight movement away from having a chunk of his wife's neck.

Seeing the two younger mammals' backs turned to him and Bonnie's field of vision blocked by the much larger physique of the canid, the angered buck ignored all rational thoughts as to why the trio looked so melancholic in the first place and resumed his hunt. He descended the few porch stairs extra carefully to avoid making a single sound and began tiptoeing his way towards the odd bunch, already aiming the partially dull metallic spikes of the pitchfork at a certain area under the disguised devil's bushy tail. However, as he was stalking closer to his target, an emotional and hushed feminine voice caught his ears.

"I'm sorry, Nicholas. I really am", Bonnie spoke, trying to fight back tears of her own. She could barely believe the story she'd just been told, even after Judy had confirmed it. How the fox had gone through so much as a child and still managed to turn his life for the better and keep it that way simply for the sake of her daughter was completely beyond her.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Hopps… Just got something in my eye, that's all", Nick mumbled, mild embarrassment evident in his tone.

"If you say so", the doe said knowingly, slowly loosening her hold around his waist and pulling back. "But you need to stop calling me Mrs. Hopps unless you want to make me feel a good fifty years older."

The statement got an amused snort out of the addressee. "I'll try my best, Bonnie."

She shook her head from side to side a little in response, leaning back to get a better view - that wouldn't strain her neck too much - on his face. "Nicholas, that's what my friends call me. You're a part of the family now- just like any other son-in-law of ours." It was as if she could see a dim light begin to sparkle in his eyes as his shocked jaw worked itself open. He was choking on the word; understandably so, considering that the last time he'd sincerely directed it at another mammal must've been over twenty years ago, and that is not even mentioning the painful memories that no doubt surrounded it. And just as he was about to force it out…

"No!" Stu interrupted loudly whilst taking the last few strides to the fox and pressed the effective end of his makeshift spear against his back. It came as no surprise when the animal on the other end jerked in place and nearly threw himself past Bonnie in an attempt to evade whatever was threatening his existence. Naturally, as most startled mammals would do in similar circumstances, Nick lost all control over his body and ended up stumbling on his own feet, landing snout first onto the carpet of grass with a distinct thud. "I'm not letting any criminal call themselves a Hopps if it's up to me! No matter their species!"

At last grasping on her father's presence, and - more importantly - his hostility, Judy quickly grabbed on the pitchfork, pulling it away from her mate as her face scrunched in indignation. "Cheese and crackers, Dad!" she exclaimed, taking a quick glance at her fox, who was slowly getting back up to his hind legs. For the very first time during their time together as a couple, she could see him wear a genuine snarl under the darker paws that covered the apparently paining muzzle. "What's your problem?"

"Stu, put that thing down before you hurt someone!" Bonnie joined in with the most intimidating tone she could gather, immediately hasting to the fallen canid to help him up. She scolded herself for not having paid enough attention to the front of the house even though she had very much known that her husband would show up eventually. Then again, having been fully concentrated on Nick's crushing narrative and having had his weeping snout right next to her ears had definitely not helped the sharpness of her senses. Either way, the whole scenario could've been avoided if she hadn't been such a stereotypically emotional bunny.

Bonnie, having to wear an apologetic look for the umpteenth time since learning of the canid, held out her paw at him, but soon came to realize that the sparkle in his eyes had already vanished, replaced by a blend of sorrow, anger and frustration. Clearly fighting back the urge to jump at the buck right there and then, the red fox rejected the offer and instead pushed himself up on his own. As he turned around to face the general direction Judy was originally leading them towards, she could hear him mutter a very subtle "I'm fine, Mrs. Hopps" before storming off, leaving the doe with a growing frown.

She wondered how many nights her husband could spend on a couch before it would injure his spine.

Turning back to said mammal and her kit, she was pleased to find the pitchfork lying several feet behind the fuming Judy, who was heatedly expressing her opinion about his little trick. Knowing that she was unaware of her mate having already left, Bonnie walked over and tapped her on the shoulder, gesturing to Nick's shrinking figure. The message seemed to be clear enough, as in no more than two seconds had Judy given her father a final, disappointed glare and left chasing for the white and orange blur. "I hope you feel safe now!" was the last voiced sign of irritation that the elderly pair could make out before the younger doe took on the task of catching the vulpine's attention by repeatedly calling out his name.

Despite still thinking his actions were completely justified, Stu couldn't help but gulp as his wife centered her accusatory gaze directly on his eyes and crossed her arms, her right foot thumping sternly. All he'd tried to do was to interrogate the shady fox and reveal whatever secrets he was hiding without endangering any of his family members. It wasn't his fault that the other mammal had fallen and hurt himself.

And it certainly wasn't his fault that the same mammal had gotten himself into said position by living a life of crime.

"You have anything to say for yourself?" Bonnie began, her expression hard as rock.

"Don't tell me you're serious about this, Bon. I can understand accepting the whole species thing, but he's an outlaw, for carrots' sakes!"

The grey doe blinked at him. "And how would you know that? The kits might've as well been playing a prank on us or misheard what he'd really said. All you did was overreact without a reason and look how much that helped!"

"He isn't a criminal?"

"Judy wants to be a lawyer, Stu. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't become mates with someone so against her values- especially when that someone is not a bunny."

Stu mulled the words over for a short moment. "So… what's really going on, then? I can't imagine the boys saying something like that just to mess around."

A light sigh escaped Bonnie's lungs, her stance losing some of its grimness. "What Nick had said was that he'd lived most of his life as a _borderline_ criminal", she explained, noticing the buck's suspicion rise at the unsatisfying words, "Judy confirmed that he's never done anything against the law, nor does he have a criminal record".

"How's that supposed to-", Stu tried to cut in only to be silenced by the doe.

"Shush, and let me finish. It does matter because with the kithood he's had, most mammals would've done something far worse than he has", she snapped, unsure of which to be madder at: her husband for once again mistreating the innocent being in question, or the whole damn world for the same exact reason. "Nicholas lost his father as a little kit and watched _his mother_ slowly _die of depression_ a few years after. For world's sake, he originally wound up on the streets to do hustles for money in order to pay for his mother's medication and therapy! And if that's not a good enough reason for you, he was also discriminated against because of his species well before that; kind of how you and me both have treated him."

Stu felt his body stiffen to the point of becoming a gloomy statue, knowing that he'd turned pale under his brownish fur. An unreasonably strong force of embarrassment and realization weighing down on him, he gaped his muzzle: "Oh."

* * *

"Nick, please, _please_ talk to me!" Judy pleaded once again, staring at the fox's averting emerald gems as she hopped backwards in front of him. It'd only been one and a half hours and her father had already managed to screw everything up. At least her siblings had seen - and probably heard - him in the act. "You can't avoid me for the whole weekend, you know."

The vulpine, still having no luck at locating the bushes of blue treats amongst the thousands of other varieties by himself, finally gave up on the task and connected gazes with the persistent rabbit. Ceasing his march, Nick sighed tiredly and half reluctantly sat down onto the green covered ground next to the stomped trail, his mate quickly following suit. A slight smile took over his still sensitive muzzle as she burrowed herself under his arm, making sure to twist his T-shirt as uncomfortably as possible. He dug out the sky blue notes and a barely functional black marker from his right pocket and wrote: _'Don't get too comfy, Cottontail. I doubt you can show me the way to my dessert if you're asleep'._

The bunny only hugged him in response, waiting for him to initiate the conversation. After all, he had to if he ever wanted to escape the surrounding plots of eggplants and see his precious blueberries again.

Taking a long pause to properly regather his thoughts, Nick continued, the dry felt-tip screeching against the paper. _'Your mom asked me to call her Mom, by the way. Turns out she's pretty nice."_

"Can't say I'm surprised, to be honest. You're both huge softies under all that fur and... uh… whatever else you two have in common", Judy stated calmly, keeping her head glued to his side as she raised her chin to look up at his face. She truly was beyond appreciative of the older doe's tolerant attitude.

Needless to say, this was quite the opposite in terms of the other head of the family.

Nick snorted at the remark, making sure to make the action as visibly distinct as possible. _'What? Are you saying my perfect bod doesn't have any feminine aspects to it? That stings, Fluff.'_

She shrugged and cracked a smile. Of course she knew the quips were just an act to hide his real distress, but they were enjoyable nonetheless. "I'm sorry to break it to you, Slick, but you don't exactly give me an old bun vibe either."

' _Have you always been this rude?'_

"Nah, I only get like this around dumb foxes", she stated sneeringly but shortly turned more serious. "Was that why you broke down back there, by the way? Because she wanted you to call her mom?"

Nick focused his eyes on nothing particular in the horizon and shook his head before transforming the words floating around in his mind into a written form. _'Alright, first of all, a few sniffles and a sob doesn't equal breaking down. Secondly, no. Your dad saved me from the embarrassment of becoming an emotional puddle…'_ he switched notes, _'such as yourself before I could do that. Honestly, I just got a little carried away when I had to explain Bonnie how much you've improved my life from the pile of crap it used to be.'_

"Don't think you haven't done the same to mine", Judy hummed in a gentle and content tone, happily accepting the appreciative compliment. "I just wish Dad would see you for who you really are."

' _About that… I'd kinda want to leave with an earlier train already tomorrow, if that's okay with you. As much as I enjoy being emotionally drained and physically threatened, I think your parents have already formed their opinion on me. There's really no point in me staying and causing more chaos.'_

Judy stayed silent for a moment, internally pouting. All of her and her mother's plans for their stay were crumbling apart. "I guess that's fine. I mean, now I won't get a chance to show you around the town, but we can always come back. Hopefully."

Nick could see the disappointment in the way her ears fell back an inch or two and her nose came to a complete halt. He hated to cause such a sight, but, truth to be told, would do so a hundred times over before spending a nearly full day around the cocoa brownish buck, no matter how many fancy attractions Bunnyburrow had to offer. _'Thanks, Carrots. And I'm sorry. I know how much this visit must've meant to you.'_

The rabbit smiled meekly, trying her hardest to brush off the saddening feeling. "Well, getting you back home in one piece means more", she cooed, reaching up to cup his muzzle in her paw and pull it down closer to her own. Still a little sore from meeting his lifelong nemesis commonly known as the ground, Nick let out a small wince at the initial touch, but soon relaxed into the caress as her other paw began petting him from the black tip that was his nose to the pair of ears pressed against his skull. Seeing his eyes close and his expression lighten up, Judy gently pressed her lips against his for a quick peck. "We're totally not going to spend the next Valentine's here, just so you know", she stated with a growing grin, relishing the sight of her fox letting out what must've been a hearty giggle and seeing his tail wag from side to side. She absolutely loved how they could lift each other's spirits so easily. "C'mon, let's go get you some berries. I promised Mom that I'd help her with the evening snacks and I really don't want to stress her out even further."

Ripped out of his personal heaven by just the notion of moving, Nick shortly followed his mate's motions and got up, making sure his shorts were clean of any blades of grass before picking up his stationery and putting them to use once more. _'I thought we just ate?"_

The bunny merely nodded. "Yeah, but cooking for nearly 300 isn't all that quick. Plus I have to make sure that you get something edible too." Her eyelids closed halfway and a devilish grin covered her muzzle. "We can't have a hungry predator freely walking amongst all us little, helpless bunnies, now can we?"

' _That would've been hot weren't it for the fact that that's exactly like something your dad would say._ _No offense, Stu Jr.'_

* * *

"They aren't going to show up any sooner no matter how many times you check, honey", Bonnie told the restless buck sitting next to her and the small group of intrigued teenagers surrounding her, the black couch crowded to its absolute collapsing point. The huge living room was once again back to its lively old self with the kits having finally gotten the permission to exit their rooms underground. Some of them had been rather unhappy about having to use the stairs to rise the thirty altogether floors back to ground level as the elevators had deemed themselves far too slow and crewed to so much as be considered as an option. That is not to mention the frustrated outcry that had echoed through the entire facility once they'd learned the whole thing had been a wrong call.

Taking another look over his shoulder into the empty front yard behind the stainless window pane, Stu muttered his response: "Yeah, yeah, I know. But they've been gone for a while now. I hope the boy didn't really hurt himself".

"Don't you mean hopefully you didn't hurt the boy?" Bonnie inquired leadingly, scrolling through said boy's Furbook feed from over a year ago, her kits curiously eyeing the screen as a selfie after selfie flew by. The fox had been surprisingly active at some very questionable parties considering his age compared to the other students at the time. "Look at this one! How the heck did he manage get on top of a chandelier? That's at least ten feet off the ground, for Pete's sake!"

Stu didn't turn his gaze away from the window despite the numerous chuckles his ears picked up. He'd concentrate on everything else after he'd apologized- really apologized this time. "You think I should call Jude to make sure everything's ok?"

"Stu, calm down. I'm sure they'll be back any minute now. What you really should be worrying about is if you'll even get a chance to talk to him."

This made him shift in his seat and face his wife. "Huh? What makes you think that?"

"Well, I know I wouldn't want you anywhere near Nicholas if I were Judy. I mean, you and I both know she got her temper from you. Might even pepper spray you for good measure."

Stu let her thoughts sink in, his worried state only worsening as he went over each possibility of how the upcoming conversation would go down- that is if there'd be one to begin with. Turning back around, his eyes widened as they took in the sight of the couple entering the view from the right side of the window frame, Judy determinedly stomping her way towards the wooden front of the structure while Nick seemed to have a smug expression plastered across his face. _'Maybe he isn't that mad, after all'_ , he thought.

The buck hastily pushed himself up from his seat and sprinted to the front door; the quicker he'd meet with the two, the more time he'd have to talk with Nick in case Judy tried to make a rush for the house. Taking note of the vulpine slow down the tiniest bit as he made his way out the doorway and made eye contact with both mammals, Stu shut the door and began striding for the oncoming storm that was her daughter.

Nick, seeing his least favorite rabbit approach him with threatening speed and no hesitation whatsoever in his step, gladly hid behind his mate and simply concentrated on maintaining his mask. He took notice of the crowd gathered behind one of the windows, finding Bonnie's close by presence reassuring in a way.

"What is it this time? You have a tire iron hidden there somewhere?" Judy asked in a rebuking tone as the three came into speaking distance from each other and stopped. One could've probably fried an egg on her head by the looks of it.

Using both sign language and his voice, Stu answered with sheer sincerity, hoping his remorse showed through his exterior: "No tricks, Jude. I just want to talk. Especially to you, Nick".

"Why? So you could tell him how bad of a mammal he is again?" Judy inquired, not too keen on the idea of letting her father slander her mate even further. However, a tap on her shoulder stopped her from the scolding and made her turn to the mammal she was defending, the red fox already scribbling whatever he had to say onto a note.

' _Let him speak, Carrots. I have a feeling we might not need to leave just tomorrow.'_

Judy blinked at him and looked back to the older rabbit, who was awkwardly running his paws over his drooped ears. These might've just been the weirdest two hours of her life.

And if Nick was right, it would most likely only get weirder.


	23. Wasp

"No! I have everything under control, Doug! And that's none of your business in the first place!"

Dawn Bellwether, the newly named mayor of Zootopia, raced back and forth in her new, far too large office, shouting into her phone with enough vigor to put every other sheep in history to shame. It had never been her intention to have Lionheart's little 'containment facility' exposed so early into the plan, which, in all honesty, seemed to be crumbling apart more and more as time went by. It didn't help to have her own subordinates begin to question the success of the operation, either.

Adjusting her oversized glasses back to their usual spot, she let out an exasperated sigh and checked the double doors on the other side of the room in case anyone had come to check on her after the outburst. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, the sheep cleared her throat and put on a much softer tone. "Look, I understand your worries, but as long as we can keep someone feeding the targets in the hospital more of the Nighthowler toxin, I'm expecting you to do your job! The public isn't going to stir itself, you know".

There was a short pause before the ram on the other end answered. _"Alright, boss. What do you want me to do?"_

Bellwether went completely quiet. What was there to do in the first place? Everyone they targeted would sooner or later end up being caught and taken to the central hospital - one of the few places in the whole city where she had little to no authority - and they couldn't keep the flower's effects going for much longer due to a constantly decreasing stock of the drug. How could she make the prey population just realize how big of a threat the rest ten percent was?

" _Umm… Boss? Are you there?"_

"I'm thinking!" she snapped back, squinting her eyes shut and rubbing her other temple in frustration. She needed something. Something big that would destroy the trust between prey and predators for good. Something that could be used in the future as an example as to why one should never be in any contact with a meat eating savage. Something scandalous.

And she needed that something quick.

Suddenly, an idea formed in her mind and forced her eyes back open with a sparkle of mischievous glee in them. Checking the double doors one more time in paranoia, the sheep walked back to her desk and plopped into the chair, a wide grin tugging at her lips. "Say, Doug", she started, turning her seat around to take in the rather magnificent view of the city, "you wouldn't happen to know of any predator-prey couples, would you?"

* * *

' _I'm never going to underestimate you cutesy little fuzzballs ever again.'_

Judy glanced at the note in her paws once more before turning back to the fox who was slouching the icy streets of Tundratown by her side, each of them carrying their respective bags of now dirty clothes. An embarrassingly happy grin threatened to take over her entire face as she reflected back on the last few days, but she still somehow managed to maintain an offended look at the usage of one of her least favorite words.

The trip to her parents had gone exceedingly well after her father had come to realize the sheer stupidity and unnecessity of his behavior. Needless to say, she'd been more than little taken aback by the sudden apology from his part, but the joy of one finally coming out of his muzzle had been enough to send her to the brink of crying happy tears in record time. Whatever Nick had in that foxy core of his that had kept him so calm during the whole exchange of forgiving words and a quick hug, she clearly lacked. Then again, he'd totally beaten her at the earlier weeping contest with her mother. Judy would've had to be blind _on top of_ being deaf not to realize how much matronly affection meant to her mate.

Anyhow, the important thing was that Nick finally had a family. And not just any family, but _her_ family.

Giving the fox a very light punch to the side, paying extra attention to the new feel of the act due to his freshly cut fur, Judy couldn't help but thank whatever divine entity had granted her such a perfect mammal to spend her life with. She had no idea how anyone could make jeans and a simple navy blue coat look so damned appealing. "Think that was bad? Wait 'till we visit them in the fall. Then you'll get to do real work."

Nick, appreciating her effort to go gentler on him than usual, simply gawked at her smug look, marveling how the physical abuse he'd gone through earlier that day could've been any more exhausting. He'd always considered himself to be in decent shape for an average fox - not that he'd ever even had a chance to gain much weight due to his living conditions and, more importantly, livelihood - but after today he might have to reconsider his non-existent workout routine. After who knows how many times Judy had told him to spend some time talking with her dad after his apology, which he was genuinely glad about, Nick had finally given in and complied. Unluckily for him however, he must've missed the terms of service at one point or another, because apparently _spending time_ meant being dragged around the property by his tail, and _talking_ something between functioning as the older rabbit's heavy-duty crane and getting constantly slapped in the back by what felt like lightning in the form of small, padless paws.

That said, he still would've repeated today a hundred times over before letting Judy take him for another tour around Bunnyburrow. Never in his life had he wanted to jump out of a moving vehicle just to see what happens more than he had the day before.

Slipping his hustler smirk back on, he quickly retraced his thoughts, cursed his aching muscles, and wrote his reply on another note. _'I'm not surprised you wanted to move away if that's all you guys do on the weekends.'_

Amused, Judy let a blast of air that somewhat resembled a giggle escape her before turning back to take in the unfamiliar neighborhood. She was excited to finally get to see his new apartment, but more than that, was terrified of meeting the other mammal who now lived there. From what she'd gathered, it was evident that Finnick was much closer to Nick as her own family was to her, which was saying _a lot_. Added to that were all the stories Nick had shared with her about the fennec's constant bad temper and even a few assault charges, (all of which were completely justified in the red fox's personal opinion,) and you have the recipe for one very nervous bunny. She really didn't feel like becoming the small canid's fourth court case, at least not today. After all, it had been nearly two whole days since she'd last been able to show her mate just how much she loved him.

' _You alright there, Carrots?'_

The olive green coated rabbit was jolted out of her daydream as a note was jammed in front of her face, the paw holding it instantly capturing her attention. That attention was quickly shifted to her shoulder as that same large paw took hold of it and pulled her entire frame into the fox's side, Judy barely dodging the lamp-post she'd been absentmindedly heading towards. Sending a sheepish smile up at the wicked grin looming over her, she quickly brushed off the embarrassment, having bigger things to worry about than a little teasing at the moment. "Sorry, I was just… thinking."

Once again, they both stopped for a brief moment to give Nick a chance at responding, Judy dislodging herself from the larger character and unconsciously readopting a thoughtful expression. _'Thinking 'bout what?'_

"Well, you remember how you felt right before meeting my parents for the first time? This is the same exact thing but probably like twice as bad."

The tod looked down at her with the same smirk as always and wrote his reply, the pair slowly but surely nearing the third colossal cube of ice on their left. _'Geez, I knew you rabbits were a little skittish by nature but you're not really scared of a sweet and adorable lil' pup half your size, are you?'_

Groaning, Judy locked her mirthless eyes with him for a few seconds before turning to inspect the simplistic looking building itself. The construction company must've left the whole thing unfinished for whatever reason as it was almost abnormal to find any type of edifice free of large, decorative carvings in the snowy region. "You're telling me you're not?" she retorted, following him down the hall towards the staircase.

' _That depends on if you're going to tell him I called him that or not, Fluff. Besides, even if you do, there's still one more thing I'm more scared of than him.'_

"What's that?" she inquired, confused even further as he motioned for her to hand over her bag. She did as asked and waited for him to throw it over his shoulder before giving her one last piece of light blueish paper.

' _Death by excessive cardio in the next five minutes.'_

* * *

Finnick grumbled as he pulled on a second pair of woolen stockings, the floor having gotten far too cold for the fox's paws despite the parquet separating them from any direct contact with the frozen surface beneath. How he'd gotten to the point of living on the 42nd floor of a building made out of ice with no elevator was completely beyond him. Just the climate alone should've been enough to shoo off any sane desert mammal and leave them with the mental note to never return. At least living in his van had given him the opportunity to spend his nights in any of the warm regions of city.

Added to that was the fact that not only did he have to share the three-room apartment with one of the most obnoxious animals he'd ever met, he'd also have to put up with the rabbit who would surely be hanging from his neck at all times.

Shifting in the big, beige colored bean bag chair he'd replaced his old and worn out mattress with - purely because of financial reasons, of course. He'd definitely never enjoyed the soft feel of Nick's larger purple one or how it would always mold under him to perfectly fit his own body - the fennec turned back to concentrate on the only other object in his new and very own room, the old portable TV from his van. Seeing yet another rerun of some eighties' soap opera, he let out a sigh and dug himself deeper in the seat.

Finnick was nervous, in a way. While Nick had been one of the vulpine's to have occasional one-night stands outside of a serious relationship, he was extremely picky with the vixens, and apparently does, he accepted and marked as mates. This was more than likely even more true after the way he'd been betrayed the previous time he'd promised himself to be someone else's.

This meant two things. First of all, the fennec couldn't interact with the rabbit the same way he did with everyone else. Even if he would eventually get used to talking with her with the whole deaf aspect, which he had little to no experience with apart from reading snippets about it online, he still couldn't be his ignorant and generally rude self without having to fight the overprotective tod. Secondly, he badly wanted to befriend the bunny, no matter how weird and unnatural that sounded, because he'd certainly be seeing a lot more of her in the weeks to come.

A distant thud reached his large, freezing ears, effectively cutting his thought process short. The sound, which he inferred to originate from the end of the hallway that led to the stairs, was soon followed by a heavily panting feminine voice muttering something about murdering the other mammal once they got to her place.

Putting two and two together, Finnick grumbled some more and grudgingly pushed himself up from his bean filled throne. Hearing a pair of pawsteps finally begin to near the apartment door, he hurriedly shut the TV and promptly stomped his way through the hallway to the just as empty vestibule.

" _It doesn't-"_ , there was another sharp gasp from the other side of the wooden door, _"-it doesn't matter how cheap it is, you dumb fox! Choosing to live on a friggin' mountain top still makes you both idiots!"_

Rolling his eyes, the small fox sighed and hopped up for the door knob, successfully turning it midair with dozens of years of experience. A stone cold expression on his muzzle, he watched as the door slowly revealed an appalled rabbit and a spitefully grinning fox, the lagomorph instantly pulled into the other mammal's side as the two vulpines' gazes met.

"Uh- Hi!" Judy forced herself to mumble through the combination of suspense and exhaustion, looking down at the sand colored canid buried somewhere under his thick, black parka and equally warm-looking socks. Had she not called the huge eared bundle of adorable and pure intimidation an idiot only a few seconds before, she might've even cracked a smile at the sight. "You didn't happen to hear that, did you?"

She could practically feel the intensity of Nick's grin trying to bore its way into her- even with him out of her field of vision. "'Cause he called you a sweet and adorable little pup downstairs", she added without any further thinking, only realizing how much deeper she was digging her hole once the words had left her mouth. At the very least, she _knew_ her fox had stopped smirking by now.

The reaction from the fennec was much more subtle than either of them expected, a single slow blink which he used to shift his dooming gaze upon the now statue like red fox. Instead of letting his painting the larger canid even redder with the tips of his claws, Finnick simply raised an eyebrow at him and spoke, knowing better than to show the bunny his true colors during the very first minute of their very first encounter- he would remind Nick of the banned word list later. "You gonna give me some of those notes or are we just gonna stand here the whole night?"

Breaking out of his haze, Nick's muzzle was once again possessed by a streamlined and confident smirk as he reached for his pocket. "Sure, talking coat hanger", he retorted in a free-of-malice voice, gracefully bowing down to hand over the items. "Would you like a third pair of ridiculous socks with your order, sir?"

Stepping aside to let the pair inside, the fennec scribbled on the first paper square of the small stack he'd been given, all the while muttering his response to the other canid: "Remember that time when your pet turtle died and you cried for two weeks straight? 'Cause I bet she'd just love to know more 'bout the 21-year-old Nicholas".

Handing the piece of paper to the gray rabbit who followed her mate over the threshold to the apartment, he took another glance at his friend, pleased to find the color drained from his face.

Judy, confused and slightly worried by their exchange, mentally tried to brush the matter aside and focused on reading the note in her paws. She'd gotten a lot better at lip-reading during the last few months, but it seemed that her progress only applied to Nick as trying to recognize even the very basic lip movements on anyone else's face seemed practically impossible. This was especially true when dealing with new mammals or those of different species.

' _Do me a favor, bunny. Kick the idiot in the groin the next time he calls me anything like that.'_

Returning the proposal with a sheepish smile, she cursed her half upright ears for revealing her nervousness. She could only hope Nick hadn't told the smaller fox of her good for nothing mood indicators.

"Sorry, the best I can do is stomach", she said with a slight touch of unease in her tone, not bothering to disrobe from her coat as she saw Nick keep his on; they'd only be there for a brief moment after all. "Nice to finally meet you, too, Finnick. The idiot has told me a lot about you", she added with an offering of her paw and a playful nudge to the unusually pale fox's side.

Finnick, seeing the rabbit still on edge despite her best efforts at hiding it, showed no hesitation in reaching up and returning the gesture with a firm pawshake, the other corner of his mouth twisting into a satisfied grin. Throughout his hustler life, he'd always believed that it was completely possible for anyone to judge another mammal's personality in less than a minute of talking, and he'd done his best at living by that principle. It had helped him scrape up a good amount of extra cash when selling whatever product they were using in the scam at the time, but, even more importantly, had kept both him and Nick away from any excessive danger by helping him recognize and thus avoid troublemakers. The other fox was by no means an apprentice at practicing the skill, but was nowhere near as close at mastering it as the fennec.

This was why Finnick had total confidence in achieving his goal at making any time he would have to spend with the bunny in the future at the very least bearable, if not enjoyable.

Retracting his paw, he fumbled with the stationery once more, the trio still stuck standing in the vestibule. _'Lemme guess, the elephant suit and other best of-s?'_

Judy nodded a bit too enthusiastically considering she was putting her fox's well-being on the line. What she'd expected to become a few awkward minutes of cold stares and fighting over the orange wonderfulness with an 'overprotective big brother' -type whilst attempting to check out the residence she wished would soon become her escape from her own cramped one, was clearly about to turn into something far more interesting.

As long as she stayed on Finnick's good side, he'd be the perfect source for every embarrassing detail throughout the other vulpine's life. Now all she had to do was to find out how to squeeze the info out of him, and she'd have the key to a bottomless treasure chest of subjects to tease her mate with.

She was just about to probe the topic further when another note was given to her, returning her to reality from her scheming. The interruption was also enough to make her realize Nick had disappeared from her side and was already fiddling with her ear and what could only be her other hearing aid behind her.

' _Tell you what, rabbit. Buy me a six pack and the next time you have a few hours to spare I'll tell ya all about his teen years. I think it's only fair that way.'_

Problem solved.

Nick, seeing the text over her shoulder, was quick to object, his voice barely loud enough for Judy to register, though not make out, with the required earpiece in place: "Finn, you can't do that. I-".

Judy, however, had other plans. "What do you want for the twenties?"

Finnick gave a toothy smile at that. _'Two things. One: you need to promise me I'm never gonna see you two eat each other's faces out. Not here, not anywhere else. Two: you're going to make the second door on the left soundproof. I don't give a crap how you do it as long as it gets done.'_

"Why do we need to do that?" Judy asked, her brows scrunched in a quizzical expression.

Sighing, Nick rolled his eyes both at his old friend and his bunny's seemingly impossible - and impossibly cute - innocence. "I'll get it done, alright? Would've done it without you reminding about it, too, assface", he mumbled half out loud, taking his bunny's paw and dragging her still confused form with him into the hallway that led to the rest of the apartment. "I'm not making any promises on your first rule, though. I need to have at least three to four warm meals a day, after all."

The comment was followed by a surprised yelp from the bunny, a long, deep, and passionate kiss delivered by the red fox, and finally, an even deeper voice filling the space with an exasperated sigh and a few quietly muttered curse words.

* * *

Judy stood in the very middle of the joined living room and kitchen area, her ears folded all the way back in wonder and amazement. Nick had told her the rooms were all spacious, but she hadn't been expecting this! Just his room alone was bigger than her place, and despite the frozen building material, none of the rooms felt much cooler than hers did. As long as there was an option for hot water - which the paradise of a bathroom with its heavenly looking tub definitely didn't lack in - she'd manage just fine.

On top of that, there was the area she was standing in now. The huge window, which almost looked like it was just a polished part of the ice wall, opened a beautiful, light blue sight over the surrounding smaller structures and let the space be lit by natural light, something she'd always craved for when she'd used to live underground in her parents' house.

All that the flat was really missing was the furniture. Apart from a few things in Finnick's room and the paraphernalia that had come with the luxurious kitchen, only emptiness could be seen. Then again, it was only the second day they'd gotten the official permit to use the apartment and Nick hadn't been there to move the few things he'd told he'd spared up the stairs.

As much of fearful respect the rabbit might've had towards the even smaller fennec, she very much doubted he could carry over ten times his body weight.

"Whaddaya think?" her favorite voice in the whole world inquired her, reddish brown arms covered by navy blue sleeves enveloping around her waist and locking her tightly against him, the back of her head lying against his stomach. She could feel his damp nose tickle the fur around the base of her ear. "Good enough for a movie night or two?"

Snuggling closer to him on her journey to find the source of the more than pleasant warmth, she nearly purred back her answer, not caring if her content and somewhat seductive tone carried over to the desert fox who'd already returned to sitting in his room after having a final jab at Nick's new look: "Maybe even three if you get me something to sit on".

There was a brief pause. "Hmpf. I guess I could start looking for small couch or something. I've always hated regular chairs, so they're definitely out of-", an even longer pause, "Whoa", Judy suddenly felt the arms around her withdraw as his mumbling changed to plain silence. Looking up and over her shoulder with her other eyebrow raised, she saw him cup his snout from several different spots in what looked like a state of panic, his eyes wide open and full of dread.

Fearing he'd somehow gotten hurt, she hastily turned around and pulled him down to his knees, instantly taking the protruding part of his muzzle into her own paws, inspecting it very carefully. "Nick? What's wrong? Are you feeling alright?"

The vulpine, happy to get the exact reaction he'd wanted out of her, had to raise his voice by quite now that his lips weren't practically stuffed down her ear canal. He wasn't one bit surprised Finnick hadn't come to check out on them, the fennec having spent enough time with him to know exactly what he was doing. "I swear I didn't have this before", he said, keeping up the terrified fox act.

Judy looked uneasy at the statement, hurriedly checking his snout one more time in case she'd missed something. "Have what? Nick, what are you talking about?"

"This!" he exclaimed, pointing at the appendage with both of his paws.

Her face scrunched up in utter confusion. "Your muzzle?"

"No, Carrots! Gods, I know what my own muzzle looks like. This right here on my face!"

"What? What's on your face, Nick?" she nearly shouted, giving up and freeing him from her gentle hold.

The canid raised his emerald eyes from his nose and locked them with her concerned amethyst ones. After staying silent for another two or three seconds, his expression adapted both the smuggest smirk and most annoyingly half lidded eyes the world had ever seen. "A bunny sized seat", he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. "Well, at least I'll save some money on that couch now that you have something to sit on, even if I do have to live with a chronic condition like this."

Her face slowly hardening to the point of reminding of a sculpture, she brought her paws to rub her temples, taking a more than a dozen seconds to calm her nerves. Unsurprisingly, the attempt proved pointless.

Leaping at the biggest idiot in existence, she let her fists off the leash that was her love towards him as the two fell down onto the floor. The red fox would soon become the world's first living bruise to fall into a coma. "You're. Dead. To. Me. You. Dumb. Fox!" she squeaked through clenched teeth between punches, the fox under her squirming for his life as he laughed the pain away.

"Hey! Abnormalities! Go pounce on each other somewhere else or give me cash for a night in a hotel", came the eventual shout from the other room, the deep voice loud enough for even Judy to register- and that was saying something. Guessing what the shout must've meant, she gave him a last not-so-light punch to his shoulder accompanied by a stern stare, scoffed, and stood up.

Hastily turning around and stomping her way down the hallway, the bunny glanced over her shoulder one last time, the collapsed vulpine staring back at her with a stupidly satisfied smile. "Better be one heck of a seat."

* * *

"Aww, c'mon, Carrots! It was funny!" Nick pleaded, following the still silent lagomorph into the elevator of her apartment building. "I'm sure we can find a clinic to remove it if it bothers you that much."

Rolling her eyes for the umpteenth time, Judy couldn't take it anymore. "Nick, you better shut up unless you want to hike back to your place and cuddle next to Finnick for the night. You seriously scared me", she finished in a mildly exasperated tone, keeping her gaze locked on the metallic doors as Nick pressed the button on the wall to take them to the 24th floor.

"So, does that mean-".

"No, it means you shut up and are now going to do the laundry tomorrow."

Nick looked at her a little glumly, shutting his open mouth and trying his hardest to keep his tail and ears from drooping. There was nothing he hated more than seeing his mate without her usual glee. Laundry was right up there, though.

Noting the fox's posture slacken, she let the corners of her lips curl into a small smile. The elevator came to a halt and the pair exited the metallic box. Nudging his side with her shoulder, she caught his attention before stopping them both in place and placing a small, airborne peck on his nose. "You're way too easy to hustle, sweetheart."

Cutting through the cloud of confusion, a stupefied look crossed his face before he grasped on what she'd said, turning the expression into a surprised and happy one. Even his tail celebrated the event with a few wags. "What is it with this hallway and you hustling me? I don't think I can ever walk through here again if I wanna to keep my dignity", he stated, leaning over the bunny's smaller form as she fumbled with her keys. At least the hearing aid gave him an excuse to stay near her in these rare situations, even if it looked stupid.

The door clicked open, and she stopped at the threshold, slowly pulling him inside by the paw. "And what? Never visit my apartment again?"

"Or-", he began sultrily, "I could just never leave it again".

He was already pulling the door shut when an unfamiliar voice echoed from behind him.

"Don't worry, you won't."

What ensued was a sharp stinging sensation at his neck, the sound of the door being slammed shut, and a feeling of his veins beginning to burn with an uncontrollable fire as his entire shocked body began to spasm.


	24. Apart

Completely stiffened by the horror of the situation, Judy found herself pinned between the floorboards of her apartment and the still juddering fox, the latter having landed on top of her after whatever substance the syringe plunged into the ruff of his neck had contained had come to effect. Even if her brain - which still lacked any clarity over the situation - wanted to help her mate with whatever was happening to him, the rest of her shocked body very much refused. Then again, that might've just been a side effect of the impact the back of her head had made with the floor only a few seconds before, leaving her with a rather tormenting, but obsolete, headache.

Her mind fuzzy, yet racing at full speed, she forced her body to cooperate, pushing on the vulpine's increasingly shaky character and scrambling back enough to get on her feet. As soon as she was up, the bunny raced to the door and hastily locked it, taking a quick peek through the peephole to make sure if the sheep - or that's what she presumed the attacker's species had been by the looks of their arm - had already vanished or not. To her immense relief, though definitely not to her aid, there was no sign of anyone in the hallway, the perpetrator having seemingly already fled.

Letting out a breath so shaky it could've easily surpassed nine on the Richter scale, Judy turned around to lean her back against the door, weighing her options. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate on finding the best course of action, she was constantly interrupted by a gut-wrenching feeling that the seconds crawling by would end up being the last ones she'd ever get to spend in the company of her fox. However, that problem was soon solved as she noticed he'd ceased his involuntary convulsing and was now merely lying limp on his side, the sight - which could've just as well been taken straight out of one of her worst nightmares - giving her the much needed rush to start up her brain again.

She wouldn't lose him. Not like this.

"Nick!" she cried out, sprinting over to the fallen canid and dropping to her knees to cup his head into her paws. At the very least he was still breathing, although very raggedly. His pulse was also alarmingly high and his body twitched uncomfortably at her touch, his muscles unnaturally tense for a barely conscious mammal.

Realizing there were only a few walls separating them from possible help, she screamed from the top of her lungs, her paws already occupying themselves with wildly hunting for her phone. She didn't need an auditory sense to know that her voice had rocked the entire building along with a few others within a two block radius. Standing back up, she raced back to the door and unlocked it, knowing that if one of her neighbors were to show up, she'd rather have them attend to Nick than stand outside and bang their paws on the door in a useless effort to catch her attention.

It felt as if she'd checked more pockets than she had on her in the first place, before she finally located the device and fished it out from her coat. Her paws shook uncontrollably as she typed her cry for help to the emergency services, her condition obviously ruling out the much faster and easier verbal option. (Thankfully, unlike Bunnyburrow, the city at least provided the option to use texting in situations like these.) Before she could so much as send the first message however, her eyes took notice of a shadow growing larger and larger on the wooden surface of the door, inevitably ripping her attention off the bright screen.

A new wave of confusion and fear struck the teary form of the bunny as she shifted to look behind her. The faintest of jolts caused by her phone crashing into the floorboards could've just as well been an earthquake to her as her instincts fought to take control of her frozen body in an attempt to flee. Or hide. Or do anything else but remain standing still and just stare into the narrow eyes of her natural enemy that was closing in on her on all fours.

Suddenly, a string of memories arose from her subconscious. _'The news. Jenny.'_

Despite her shocked state of mind, she could tell that the fox in front of her wasn't the same Nick she loved. The emerald orbs - usually full of care and loving devotion - now showcased only plain hunger and aggression. His movements had the grace and calm only a stalking predator could accomplish, and the enraged snarl on his muzzle sent a cold shrill up her spine. She was sure that the apartment was filled with a continuous, low growl; not the type of one she was used to force out of him during their moments of desire, but one that conveyed the need to kill, to rip apart and consume.

It was at that moment that Judy decided Karma really was a bitch. If this was considered a just punishment for calling in sick to work to spend the weekend with her mate, then she most definitely didn't want to know what happened to actual criminals.

The fear of his nearing presence melting away the ice that had her immobilized, she _carefully_ brought her paw up to the doorknob and _slowly_ turned it, hoping the action didn't stir the feral animal. Her gaze never left the flaring nose, drooling muzzle, and exposed fangs of the vulpine. She couldn't force herself to understand how the characteristics that once made her feel so safe and wanted in countless different ways could now genuinely scare her, even if it was the reaction nature had intended for her all along.

Finally, after a strained eternity, she felt the lock click open, the fox standing mere feet away. Deciding not to waste any precious time, Judy sidestepped and flung the door open, adrenaline rushing through her body almost as fast as she tried to rush over the threshold and into safety.

She never made it that far. Not that she was surprised.

As soon as her toes grazed the stone flooring of the hallway, she found herself being dragged back into the apartment by her other leg, ultimately causing her to fall onto her side. The next thing she realized was a hellish pain in her left leg, which now had numerous teeth, and even a few claws, sunken into it, the feeling squeezing out the very last of the teardrops she still had in store. As if that wasn't bad enough, the canid apparently found it necessary to rapidly swish his head side to side in an attempt to detach the limb with all of its bones and muscles out of their place, not helping her condition in the slightest.

She screamed, she kicked, she punched, she cried out his name; all to no avail. Each time she was about to free her leg, the fox's jaws only locked tighter together, eventually moving up to bite at her thigh. The physical pain was excruciating to say at least, but never compared to the mental one, not in the slightest. The reality of never getting to go to sleep cuddled into him and wake up the next morning still being held in that same caring manner was enough to crush her heart and soul. She'd never have a chance to meet Fru Fru's newborn, or see her face when her husband would announce they'd be moving to the Tri-Burrows into a freshly built home, fulfilling one of the tiny shrew's lifelong dreams. She'd never get to chat with Clawhauser or any of her other friends or family members ever again. She'd never be able to live out her own dreams and help mammals as a lawyer and get kits of her own. And that wasn't even the worst of it.

What hurt the most, was the knowledge that if Nick was ever going to come back to his senses, he'd have to live knowing he'd killed her, live in guilt without her. _Everyone_ would think it was his fault she wasn't around anymore.

Her body in a too severe of a shock to keep on her pointless struggle, Judy could only watch as the now blurry canid finally let go of her nearly limp foot and stepped closer. Her breathing and pulse picked up as his teeth took hold of her neck. One last bite and it'd be all over. She closed her eyes and waited. This was it.

…

Moments passed, but nothing happened. Then, a loud wince - which even her other, somehow still mechanically assisted ear picked up - filled the room. Upon feeling the grip on her neck loosen, she dared herself to force her eyelids open, feeling her own throat still letting out all sorts of agonized squeal-like noises. The fox wasn't ripping her apart- not even a little bit. Instead, he was now running his tongue over the small imprints his fangs had left into her skin under her grey fur, his ears pressed against his skull and tail hidden between his hind legs. Maybe it was because of the massive blood loss, or the adrenaline slowly fading away, but she almost could've sworn that, deep down, he sort of looked apologetic, like he somehow knew what he'd done.

Suddenly, however, his head snapped in the direction of the apartment's entrance, his lips twisting into a new snarl. Unable to fight back the paining fatigue, she drifted to unconsciousness, the distant but growing, low growl functioning as the perfect lullaby.

* * *

Fluorescent lamps, pale white hallways, and the smell of extensive amounts of disinfectant. Having had multiple hours of time to put her scattered memories together, it wasn't too hard to figure out her whereabouts. Cracking her eyes open the tiniest bit, all she could see was black. Her head still felt obnoxiously light and her body weak, but what bothered her the most, was the numbness in her left leg. There was no escaping the uncomfortably hard bed.

"N-Nick?" she stammered, worry evident in her voice.

Tears flowed freely as she took in some details of the space she was kept in, her eyes slowly but surely becoming accustomed to the dark. The patient room was just like any other in the city's five altogether hospitals, a spacious cube-shape with little decoration, a single window, and sickeningly boring white walls. There was a table next to the metal framed bunk, and on it, a desk lamp and a large vase with purple tulips. Above the doorway hung a clock. It was barely four in the morning.

A small remote-looking device right next to her right paw catching her eye, she figured it must've been the button to call a nurse and pressed it. She wiped at her eyes, but the waterworks wouldn't stop. Sure enough, less than ten seconds passed before the door swung open, a young antelope in her sky blue nurse's outfit rushing inside. The doe looked at her and said something, but the words fell to deaf ears.

"W-where's Nick?" she asked hurriedly, her voice meek and shaky, "Is he okay?"

An embarrassed and somewhat relieved expression crossed the antelope's façade before she brought her hoof up to her mouth and made a very clear hush face, calmly walking to the side of her bed and kneeling down to be at a more comfortable level with the rabbit. Turning on the lamp, she grabbed a notebook and a ballpoint pen from the table where they'd been left for an event exactly like this one, and wrote, doing her best at ignoring the lagomorphs still ongoing, sorrowful wheezing. Such a cute creature should never have to go through anything this heartbreaking.

' _Calm down, sweetie. Your mate is in good hands right here in the hospital. You just rest and leave everything else to the doctors, alright?'_

"Can… Can I see him?"

The sad smile she gave her was enough of an answer by itself, making the following ten second wait rather pointless. _'I'm sorry, dear. Unfortunately he hasn't returned back to normal yet. Visitors aren't allowed anywhere near the wing your mate and the others are being treated in. We'll all just have to wait and see what develops.'_

Her head sunk low, her ears drooped, lips quivering, and nose twitching in a lazy rhythm. "But I want to-", a sniff, "see him."

Knowing that arguing about the subject would do no good at all, the nurse instead moved a little closer and captured the bunny in a warm and assuring embrace. She wanted to ask how things had gone down, but knew it wasn't her place to pry. Plus, she'd most likely hear the story in the morning, anyways.

Finished scribbling with her hooves still behind her back, the two parted. _'You need to rest, Ms. Hopps. You have many mammals waiting to talk to you tomorrow, including your parents. Your mate is going to be fine.'_

With that, the antelope stood up, fluffed her pillow, and shut the lamp. Before placing back the stationery though, she wrote one more thing. _'I'll come wake you up 45 minutes before visiting hours so you'll have time to eat. Call me if you need anything, okay? Good night.'_

Judy only nodded in response, taking note of the larger mammal mouthing the words "good night" as she made her way out of the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts in the dark again. Needless to say, she didn't get much sleep that night.

* * *

Done with poking the exceptionally dry sandwich as far away from her as possible, the grey rabbit - in her very own hospital gown - lifted the plastic tray from her lap and put it aside. She'd always hated hospital foods and having no appetite whatsoever definitely didn't help her cause. Nor the apparently endless dizziness. All she'd really gotten down her throat was some juice, and even that had been difficult to keep from coming right back up.

Her doctor - an older, brownish female rabbit with thick bottle bottom glasses and a seemingly strict but friendly attitude - had visited her earlier. Apparently she'd been unconscious for a whole day and a half, during which she'd been treated for severe blood loss and tissue damage, undergone a surgery to fix a broken fibula, and been transferred to Savanna Central on the city's behalf to make things easier for the police. She wasn't going to be discharged any time soon, after all, and there was a good chance the ZPD would have to visit her more than once.

The atmosphere of the room had shifted noticeably when the actual attack had been brought up. Despite no one having questioned her and Nick's relationship yet, she had most definitely sensed a constant lingering cloud of doubt and accusation aimed at her fox. Luckily, that had changed drastically once she'd told the older rabbit of the wool covered white arm and the injection it had been holding. She'd looked disbelieving at first, telling her that that was impossible since they'd found no signs of abnormal amounts of _any_ thing from the victims' blood, but had soon pleaded for more details. And that's exactly what Judy had given her.

After she'd finished, the doctor had thanked her and walked out of the room, urgency in her step. Having had nothing else to do, the grey doe had spent the following half an hour trying to do anything else than concentrate on the pile of sheer disgustingness that was her supposed breakfast.

Sighing to herself melancholically, she checked the wall clock, waiting for someone to save her from the all-consuming boredom. No matter what she tried to think about, she couldn't shut off her never-ending state of distress. Had she not spent all of her tears the previous night, she'd probably still be crying. Everything felt so cold without a russet furred bundle next to her.

Thankfully, her rescue came only moments after in the shape of another two pairs of long, on alarm bunny ears.

Upon laying their eyes on their patched-up daughter, Stu and Bonnie quickly rushed to both sides of the bed and greeted her with a tight hug that had her gasping for air after a dozen seconds or so. Bonnie was the first one to detach herself from the embrace and immediately began waving her arms around, her eyes clearly watering by the second.

' _Thank goodness you're alright, Bun Bun! We've been worried out of our minds ever since we heard of the attack!'_

Rubbing his own cheek against hers for one last time, Stu straightened himself up as well. Judy wasn't surprised to see him openly weeping already even when his expression turned stern. _'Where's the fox? What'd he do to you? I swear if he-'_

" _Dad!_ " she exclaimed, unable to stand any of his moronic assumptions right now. " _Nick_ didn't attack me, _he_ was drugged and went savage! If it had been anyone else, I'd be dead right now!"

There was a moment's pause as her parents revaluated their following words very carefully. Eventually though, Stu continued. _'What do you mean drugged?'_

She shrugged lazily, ears lowering back down at a sloth's pace. "I don't really know. We were just about to step into my apartment when someone jabbed a syringe into Nick's neck and just left. He started convulsing and about a minute or two after that he-", she swallowed, "wasn't himself anymore".

Bonnie's eyes went wide at that. _'Is he alright?'_

Judy couldn't meet her questioning gaze, feeling another wave of longing build up somewhere deep inside of her. Fortunately her mother seemed to understand her agony as she grabbed her paw and squeezed it in silent support. "I… I'm not sure. They told me he hasn't turned back to normal yet and I'm not allowed to see him, so I can't really tell."

' _How bad did you get hurt?'_ Stu cut in, not looking nearly as mad as before, just emotional.

Judy gave them both a forced smile. "It's not that bad. He only got some damage on my left leg. The doc said he probably would've ripped my throat open if it wasn't for his mark on me, though." She saw the buck gasp at the comment, his brown eyes growing even more concerned and terrified.

Before his paws could start on a follow-up question though, Judy's trembling voice broke the eerie silence once more: "What if he'll stay like that? I don't know w-what I'm going to do if I lose him."

Letting go of the paw she'd soothed so many times in the past, the older doe instead captured her whole kit in her arms, hugging her close and giving her occasional kisses on her cheek. As she'd expected, the dams soon broke, the younger doe collapsing against her as moisture began dropping on the white bedsheets. Stu didn't take long to join in either, running his paws over Judy's drooped ears in a calming manner while shedding a few tears of his own.

Although she'd finally gotten her daughter back after more than a day's unbearable wait, Bonnie was only partially relieved, knowing the nagging distress would only fade once she'd gotten her other kit back too.

Multiple minutes passed by as Judy let her tired body get rid of each and every last drip of overwhelming fear weighing down on her. Knowing her parents were there for her despite their recent dispute over the dangers of being with a fox nearly made her forget all about the unfairness of what was going on. She'd spent her entire life trying to overcome her deafness and show that in Zootopia - and really everywhere else - anyone _could_ be anything, her only goal having always been to help others.

And what does she get in return? Have the dearest thing in her existence ripped away from her.

Her mourning was once again interrupted as she felt her father shift away from her and towards the door, leaving her right side exposed to the much colder air of the room. Her mother soon did the same, revealing much of the room along with the doorway that had been hidden behind her. If it wasn't for the circumstances, her mouth would've certainly gaped at the sight.

Filling most of the doorway, which was ridiculously oversized even for the antelope nurse who seemed to be the tallest mammal around, stood a vaguely familiar, utterly gigantic, and rather intimidating water buffalo wearing a very recognizable shade of blue. She needed no more than a few seconds to identify the bunch of muscle on hooves as the chief of Precinct One himself, having heard quite a lot of his exceeding reputation as an officer and a general upholder of the law. Why he'd decided to interrogate her himself and not send a regular officer to do the job, she had no clue.

His face neutral, he chatted something with her parents, nodded in agreement, and stepped in, shifting his gaze on her solemn figure. Her mother turned back to her and signed hurriedly while the other bunny kept talking to the tower of a mammal. _'Chief Bogo here wants to talk to you, sweetheart. I have to go sort things out at home and let your siblings know we'll be gone for a few days. I'll bring you some clean clothes when I get back in the evening, okay?'_

"You're gonna leave me already?"

' _I'm sorry, but I have to, Bun Bun. Your dad will stay here, you can use him as your interpreter'_ , she finished with a half sincere smile.

"Alright. Tell everyone I'm fine and not to spam my phone. Just… come back as soon as you can."

Settling for one more tight hug and a peck on the cheek for compliance, Bonnie signed the younger grey doe goodbye. _'We love you so much, Jude. Just try to hang in there. And don't get your father too worked up.'_

With that, she walked past Bogo and out of the room, looking back one last time as she rounded the corner.


	25. Seconds, hours, days

The bellow that filled the spacious office was deafening. "What do you mean the bunny's alive?! Doug said the fox went savage! He should've killed her!"

There was quiet, apprehensive muttering on the other side of the line.

"I know they were mates; that was the whole point, you moron! This just wasn't supposed to happen!"

With that, Bellwether slammed her hoof against the screen of her phone, effectively ending the call. Tossing the phone to the other side of the room with all her strength, she watched it bounce off the wall and slam into the flooring with a distinct 'crack'. Slumping back into the oversized black leather chair, she brought her hooves to her eyes and let her emotions run free. All the time and work she'd put in to clear the streets of the ticking time bombs of violence otherwise known as predators, and this is where it gets her?

She'd hit a dead-end.

* * *

"And you are a hundred percent sure he was injected with something and not just pushed over?" the chief of police inquired sternly, standing at the foot of the bed with a small notepad. "The doctors made it very clear they haven't found anything out of the ordinary from the victims' bloodstreams", he added before nodding towards the patient's father, indicating for him to translate the words into sign. Fortunately for the already pulsing vein visible in his forehead, the buck realized to keep his own muzzle shut and did the supposed task, having required only four remarks earlier to realize it wasn't him that was being interrogated.

Circumstances like these were ones of the numerous reasons Bogo was glad to be out of field work; glad that he had been out of it for many years now. Dealing with the mammals he'd sworn to serve and protect just wasn't good for his blood pressure. Or mental health.

But this case was different, one he had to take care of himself. Ever since the first savage attack after the former mayor was exposed as the culprit behind the so called 'missing mammals case', the city hall had been pressuring him nonstop to take control of the situation before it escalated completely. It had taken him a great deal of patience to explain that since no one knew how any of the predators turned feral, all he and the other precincts could do was to continue with the same protocol and send out extra squad cars on patrol. What he'd gotten in response was a yet another threatening reminder of growing tensions between the prey and predator citizens and a not so subtle reconsideration of his position as the chief of Precinct One. And as if that wasn't enough, the ZIA had decided to drop him a vague hint of corruption possibly playing a part in the case, rendering his hopes of less than two sleepless nights a week unrealistic.

He still trusted his officers, of course. There was next to nothing that could break the utmost confidence he had in the very elite the ZPD had to offer, but the news of the sixth overall savage attack survivor (which was a rather generous term to use of the other victims as most of them had gotten away with only scratches and other minor injuries) who - unlike the others so far - had presumably witnessed a predator turn feral right in front of their eyes had been plenty enough to haul him out of his office on an assignment of his own.

The buck having finished, Judy raised her gaze back up at the intimidating form of the brass shielded giant, finding it quite humorous that her father was able to practically frustrate the buffalo's horns off with his antics. The faint characteristics of a smile forming on her muzzle soon died out as her thoughts were once again brought back to the reason why she was in a hospital bed in the first place. The question was almost offending to her. "Yeah, he gets randomly pushed over by some sheep and gets so mad he decides to rip my leg off. Seems reasonable."

The bovine's nose flared as he gave a snort at that, breaking eye contact long enough to write the comment down. "And you are also certain of the attacker's species?"

There was a moment where the only movement in the entire room was that of brown paws. "Yes, but I'm not sure if they were a ewe or a ram", she answered with a much more quiet and sincere tone now, realizing that getting on the bad side of maybe the most competent mammal who could help her wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do at the moment. There was only one thing she wanted more than to see the mammal who'd dared to hurt her mate brought to justice.

"I'm assuming you don't know who could've been behind this either or why you were attacked?"

She shook her head, not even having thought about the option of being intentionally targeted. The whole thing made no sense to her.

"Your neighbor Ms. Cooney told us that you were already unconscious by the time she got to your apartment. Apparently Mr. Wilde showed signs of extreme aggression at her attempts at entering to check on you but she could nevertheless clearly see that you were injured so she contacted the emergency services. Can you remember what happened before you lost consciousness?"

Judy gulped as her father took longer than usual to process whatever had been said before finally interpreting the words, his face shaded by dread. Brushing his oversentimental self aside, she made a mental note to thank the older raccoon once she was discharged. "Yeah… He had a seizure of some sort. I tried to help him but I didn't know how and I was afraid the sheep was still there so I missed him creeping up to me."

The Cape buffalo cocked an eyebrow at her. "Can you depict any symptoms of this seizure?"

"He was convulsing really hard and his breath was unsteady and shaky. Not so much towards the end though."

Another moment of scribbling. She'd only now come to realize that watching Nick write down on those dumb notes of his was so much more entertaining than seeing anyone else do it. There was always a sense of antsy anticipation and warmth running through her when she waited for him to finish and hand the colored paper square over.

"Due to their superior size and your critical condition, the paramedics had resorted to capturing Mr. Wilde themselves and closed him off in another room while you were being attended to. You were taken to the nearest hospital in Tundratown and Mr. Wilde was taken straight here in a police cruiser. The city will cover the costs of your transportation here. Any questions?"

She shook her head again once the interpretation was done, having already heard the same story from her doctor. She saw his father try to unlock his mouth to say something, but the chief, oblivious to the buck's pleading and somewhat curious expression, beat him to it.

"In that case I'll be seeing you in the near future", he paused and ripped a small piece of paper off his notepad, then continued, "Here's my work phone number. Call- Text me if anything else crosses your mind. Thank you immensely for your help, Ms. Hopps". Realizing that the piece of paper in his offered hoof was yet to be taken, he turned his head to the older rabbit, needing no longer than a fraction of a second to take in his thoughtful façade. He had years upon years of experience, after all. "Is something the matter, Mr. Hopps?"

Stu raised his amber eyes to meet the larger mammal's own ones, clearing his throat as diffidently as one possibly could. He didn't know if it would be wise to make the request he was thinking of, didn't even know if she wanted him to make it in the first place. But he simply couldn't bear to watch his little kit wallow in misery all day while he sat beside her with no way to help her. He needed to try.

"What's wrong, dad?"

Brought back to reality by the meek voice, he turned to see his daughter staring up at him with shining, apprehensive amethyst orbs. _'One second, Jude.'_

Turning back to Bogo, he finally accepted the piece of paper and tucked it in his pocket. "Umm… Is it possible for her to see Mr. Wilde by any chance?" he asked in an almost begging manner. "We've been told they don't let any visitors where the… uh… _unlucky individuals_ are kept, but would it be possible for you to have a saying in it?"

As impossible as it may have seemed, the bovine's ears actually fell a few degrees at the petition, a glint of empathy highlighting the brown of his usually dour eyes. "My apologies, Mr. Hopps, but that's out of my field of control. I can inquire Dr. Bales if that could be arranged, but I highly doubt it'll happen. I'm sorry."

The rabbit's character turned even more sullen. "Oh. Alright", he said, trying his hardest not to appear as though he was a kit who'd been told the Easter Bunny wasn't real. "Well, thank you anyways. I'll let Judy know to call you if she remembers anything else." A nod was exchanged between the two and with a total of three spoken farewells, the door swung open and the chief left the room.

* * *

Texting had always been one way Judy had kept herself distracted from the many adversities that life would occasionally throw on her path. Whether the mammal on the other side of the line happened to be one of her friends, a sibling, or a certain vulpine, she would always feel much better by the end of the conversation- even if it only lasted for a few short minutes. There was just something so extremely soothing and relieving in sharing her own hardships with mammals she knew she could rely on. Talking might've not solved any of the problems, but it sure made them seem much smaller.

If only that was true in this case.

Having finally come to the realization that she did indeed have some parts of her life that - unfortunately - didn't involve Nick, she'd practically screamed for her phone, not having checked it even once after she'd woken up. There'd very nearly been another scream when she'd seen the amount of unread messages and unanswered calls she'd received. Luckily, it had turned out most of them had been either from a particularly concerned cheetah, or the bunch of harassing reporters who'd caused her friend's concern in the first place. Turns out she and Nick had become the headline of quite a few newspapers already.

The following, unbearably excruciating hours had gone by with her explaining everything to the spotted feline and her other, much smaller best friend. The two had said they'd tried visiting her earlier, but had been turned down as they weren't part of her immediate family, which was stupid in her opinion since the two were just as close to her as any of her relatives, if not even more so. Once she'd managed to convince both of them that she was fine for the moment being, they'd moved on to discuss other things, such as the cutest creature to ever exist, Fru's newborn. The number of baby pictures her friend had taken was shrilling considering how recently the parturition had been.

But just like everything else that was good had to come to an end, her freedom had eventually been ripped away from her as the device that enabled it in the first place ran out of battery, returning her to the reality of her cell.

"Please, dad! Change the channel already! Don't you get to grow enough beetroots at home?" Judy exclaimed in an annoyed tone, checking the time on the wall clock for the millionth time since her father had discovered the remote for the television hanging on the wall opposite to her bed. It was the single most hellishly boring gadget she had, or ever would, come across.

Stu, completely laid back on the chair he'd dragged beside the bed, turned to face her with an amused smirk on his face, signing. _'I thought you liked beetroots.'_

"I do, but not enough to watch a frigging documentary of them."

He seemed to chuckle at that. _'Speaking of which, are you getting hungry? I could go pick up pizza or something.'_

Ripping her focus off of her phone, the doe shook her head vigorously at him, the mere thought of digesting pretty much anything making her nauseous. "No, thanks. I'm still pretty full from breakfast."

The older rabbit eyed at her suspiciously. _'You sure?'_

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

' _But from what I recall, you didn't even have breakfast.'_

"Don't go all mom on me, please. I _did_ eat and I'm not hungry!" she replied sharply, not toning down the level of annoyance in her voice even when Dr. Bales entered the room. The brown furred doe simply looked at her with a neutral expression behind her thick glasses and walked to the side of the bed, seemingly waiting for the argument to pass.

' _Judy, half a bite of a sandwich doesn't count as breakfast and you know it. I understand it might be hard, but you have to eat.'_

Frustrated, she bit the inside of her cheek and slumped further back in the stack of pillows behind her, her nose twitching angrily. It was like she was a kit again, judging by the way her dad was treating her. "I. Don't. Want. To."

Then again, her behavior might've had something to do with it too.

She was confused at first when there were no other worried demands from her father, but instead saw him looking up at the doctor, his mouth wording something his paws didn't. Crossing her arms, she willed herself not to look to her right where the doe stood, but soon found her efforts useless as a bright screen entered her sight and captured her attention. As if on instinct, her eyes read the text displayed on the standard issue tablet that all the doctors in the hospital carried around. _*I'd listen to your father on this one, Ms. Hopps. I've seen enough cases to tell you that being tube fed isn't all too pleasant.*_

Scoffing, she lifted her chin to glare at the older doe, tears welling up in her eyes. She knew her reaction was nothing short of extreme and inappropriate, but simply couldn't bring herself to act normal. Her lower lip now quivering, she hung her head low, running the back of her paw over her eyes to clear some of the senseless moisture. "Shrimp and onion. One slice tops", she muttered, refusing to look at her parent.

"Shrimp? Did she just say shrimp?" Stu repeated out loud, looking at the doctor for some sort of confirmation with a confused face. When the doe nodded, there was little for him to do to keep his jaw from hitting the floor.

"I wouldn't push the matter further if I were you, Mr. Hopps. She's in a very delicate state and I strongly doubt she wants anyone to question anything in regards to her and Mr. Wilde right now."

Sighing, Stu got up from the chair and moved to stand next to the bed, his gaze fixated on his daughter's patched up leg. "I suppose you're right."

Seeing the buck drift into the depths of his mind whilst his paw slowly neared the white cast, she recaptured his focus by calmly grabbing him by the wrist. "It'd be better if no one touched it while it heals. But for her to be able to heal in the first place, she'll need nutrition. Even if it's just some pizza."

"Are you going to stay with her if I leave?"

Bales nodded sympathetically. "For the moment, yes. I need to talk with her about an experiment we would like to run with her help. With her consent and after she's eaten, of course."

The other rabbit's brows scrunched at the vague statement. "What kind of experiment are we talking about here?"

* * *

Judy couldn't so much as move a muscle as she let herself be transferred through the hospital's dull and long hallways. There was a storm of mixed emotions raging inside of her, burning her chest to the brink of the pain actually becoming physical. After what both her nurse and her doctor had informed her earlier the same day, the chance of her getting to see Nick had become nothing but a distant daydream in her bored-and-pained-to-death mind. So it definitely had been somewhat of a shock to be requested to do just that for an "experiment".

She hadn't been able to pay too much attention to Dr. Bales nor her father as the older doe had explained the importance of the upcoming test, having had her mind rather occupied at the time, but from the little she'd gathered, it seemed that the doctors and scientists wanted to see how the fox would react to her presence. Nick had been the first one to show something else than aggression towards a mammal and so they wanted to research this behavior further. She'd been told the results might help the police force to protect civilians from more attacks, but even she knew the chances for such a scenario were extremely far-fetched.

Just like the chances of her keeping whatever little bites of pizza she'd managed to force down her throat to stay down, if the damned wheelchair didn't come to a stop soon.

Her mind didn't register any of the countless doors, or rooms, or different sized cafeterias, or staff members, or guards passing by as her seemingly endless travel continued, but instead only focused on her own internal battle that left her wishing she was back in her bed being slowly eaten alive by ennui. Her dumb bunny brain simply couldn't shake off the uncertainty of her fox's reaction not being the one she was praying for. Not that she even knew what sort of reaction she was praying for, in the first place.

Her body suddenly jerking forward due to the wheelchair seizing its forward motion, she forced herself to focus on the present and take in her surroundings. She and her father had been given a very thorough description of exactly how the experiment would go down to reassure the buck she wasn't being placed in any sort of danger, so she at least knew where she was. The white, locked door in front of her was the last thing that separated her from the vulpine who'd become the epitome of joy in her life.

The beating of her heart felt hollow and rapid, and her vision was already turning blurry from the salty liquid that had gathered on them. There was a lump in her throat that made it extremely difficult for her to breathe as she watched the mammal who'd been pushing her around to unlock the final barricade between her and Nick.

The moment was far, far more horrifying than any of the last four days' events. Actually, nothing in her life came even close to the dread she was experiencing now.

At last, the door opened and the dimly lit holding room came into view. Judy wasted no time and instead of waiting to be pushed inside, she grabbed the wheels and did the task herself, keeping her gaze glued on the thick, see-through layer of glass that divided the otherwise empty space in two. Sure enough, her eyes soon fell on a familiar shade of red.

And she very nearly broke down.

Standing rigid on four legs behind the glass was her mate, still looking just as narrow eyed and driven by instinct as the previous time she'd seen him. He was only covered by his fur, which, even with it having been cut short, appeared extremely messy. It hurt her to see him cramped into such a small space with nothing but a mattress to sleep and - judging by its condition - chew on. The glass wall had a small gap at the bottom of it where metallic bowls could be slid under to the other side. Even they were chained to the wall to prevent the fox room from stealing them. The sight was more like that of a prison cell, not a hospital room.

What got to her the most though, was the toothy snarl on her mate's muzzle and his predatory stance. As certain as she was of her Nick never wanting to hurt her, her body kept screaming for her to roll right back out the doorway.

Nose twitching as if there was no tomorrow, Judy could merely stare into his green eyes, wishing they'd look at her the same way she was so used to. She scolded herself for never telling him just how much she loved those eyes and every other aspect of him; the thought was like a dagger all the way through her chest.

Just as she was about to finally lose control over her bottled up emotions, she spotted a change in the vulpine's character. Aggressive features were first replaced with cautious and curious ones, his ears snapping up and head tilting slightly as the nightmarish snarl gave way. Eventually her already crushed hopes were revived as his eyes and each motion filled with a new sort of look: utter desperation. Judy could only watch in agony as the fox stood up on his hind legs and pounced against the glass with his front paws, trying his hardest to get to her. It took a good minute or so before he decided that there was still no going through the clear material.

Doing nervous circles in his cage with practically all of his tail dragging on the floor, the red fox let out a continuous, longing whine, but the sound fell on deaf ears.

Wiping away her tears whilst still sniffling hard, she muttered words of consolation both to herself and her mate, but her cracking and unstable voice ultimately fell on two pairs of deaf ears.

* * *

Sleep hadn't been one of the easiest things for Judy to achieve the following night with thoughts of Nick still floating right on the surface of her mind. Thankfully her mother had returned in time for her to snuggle into her side and weep away some of the hurt. Had the bed been cozier and bigger, she would've probably continued her search for maximum comfort and safety by burrowing all the way under her parent. Nick had described the habit as "adorably disturbing" when he'd first been introduced to it a few weeks back, but had, unsurprisingly, not really fought against the idea of being used as a blanket.

She could nearly feel the weight and warmth of his body pressed against her own one as his humid breath and chuckles ruffled the fur around the base of her ear. She could feel their fur mingle together where they weren't covered by layers of clothing and smell his comforting musk that calmed both her mind and heart. But most of all, she could feel being cared for, feel as all of her worries and stress and frustration were replaced with pure relaxation and mutual love.

She very, very, _very_ much didn't feel like eating at the moment, however. It was a new morning, which to her meant a new dry and disgusting sandwich. Her parents had spent the night at a nearby hotel and weren't going to be back till visiting hours, so she was all alone, too. Alone with a paining leg.

She'd barely noticed it the day before with everything else bothering her, but it sure was drawing her attention now. Each beat of her heart sent a new pulse of stinging and a sense of unbearable pressure down her left leg. It was like having someone try to rip off the fur of her thigh, sticking hundreds of needles in her calf, and running over both of them with a 20-ton road roller. It would be a long wait before she'd be discharged by the looks of things.

Sighing, Judy put the sandwich aside and reached for her phone. At least she could always keep herself sane by texting with her friends.

 _Or_ , there was also the chance to spend the following hours scrolling through her camera with tears in her eyes reminiscing on the dearest thing to ever happen to her.


	26. Violet petals, yellow pistils

Saying the past week had been a roller coaster of emotions for Judy was like saying an elephant was kind of large in comparison to a mouse; it was very true, but terribly understated.

She'd been held as a prisoner at the hospital for a total of nine days. That was over a week of having to suffer through some of her parents' antics, hospital food, and being stuck in a bed with no easy way of moving around by herself. Dr. Bales had told her she was lucky to still have her leg intact and soon functional as the damage inflicted to it could've easily caused severe nerve damage or resulted in her missing relatively sizeable chunks of it, but she couldn't have cared less about her own condition back then. It had gotten a little more bearable once she'd convinced the staff to let Fru and Ben see her, but the visits never lasted for too long as they both had their own personal lives to take care of. Even Finnick had dropped by to get everything sorted out. Understandably, the fennec had been more than mildly discomforted by the news.

She'd also gotten another chance at seeing her fox on her second to last day there. Unlike during the first meeting, this time she'd been able to keep her emotions mostly in check, which had seemingly had a calming effect on the locked vulpine as well. She'd been absolutely dying to touch him through the feeding gap, but had been stopped by the nurse watching over her. Despite the numerous theories Dr. Bales had told her they'd made based on the information she'd provided them with, they'd still been unable to find whatever substance was causing the predators to turn feral. Apparently, some had even argued against the idea of a toxin having been used at all, as it should've already exited at least the first few victims' bodies. Judy had of course had a few counterarguments to this- mainly in the form of shouts.

Possibly the most positive thing that had taken place amidst the boredom had been the second, very brief visit from chief Bogo himself. Pretty much all the Cape buffalo had said was that they now had a lead to follow and that a proper investigation had been set up. It wasn't much of an assurance of things eventually returning to normal, but it did manage to arouse a spark of hope somewhere deep inside of her.

That's a part of the reason why she'd felt rather conflicted when it came time for her to leave. Knowing that Nick hadn't returned to normal yet and that only her presence would calm him down had made leaving a lot harder than she'd first thought, but it was somewhat of a necessity for her mental health _and_ wallet. A single additional day spent stuck in that pale white room while feeling as awful as she had would've driven her mad. That said, what had been waiting for her outside the hospital had tested the limits of her sanity as well. While Judy had known that the case had caught much attention on the media's part, she hadn't been expecting the dozen and then some reporters waiting for her right outside the hospital. It had taken her a good amount of effort to push through them all without throwing a punch or two at the most intrusive of the bunch, but luckily she'd had her parents to aid and calm her.

Now though, standing in front of her apartment door with a pair of crutches, a new wave of anxiety and trepidation filled her. She'd insisted on coming with her mother to pick up some of the necessary things she'd need for her upcoming stay at Bunnyburrow, but was starting to reconsider her decision. She'd thought she would be healed enough, _strong_ enough to push away the memories.

 _Dumb bunny._

Slowly reaching the key towards the door lock, she took in one last deep breath, completely oblivious to the concerned look in her mother's eyes. Some struggling with her shaky paws and a twisting motion later, the door was pushed open, revealing the space she was once happy to call her apartment. Some relief washed over her when she saw no blood puddled on the floor, but instead smelled a variety of cleaning agents, mostly the scent of artificial lemon. In fact, excluding the dust, the whole room was in perfect order. Even her hearing aid had been placed on the table top.

Feeling a gentle paw grip her shoulder, she breathed out slowly and turned to her mother.

' _Honey, if it's too much-'_

With a second of hesitation, Judy brushed the older doe's paw off her shoulder and dragged herself inside, only having minor difficulty with getting used to the crutches. "I can handle it, Mom. I'm not afraid of an empty apartment." Not daring to lie to her mother or herself more than that, she hurried to the bathroom to pick up her toiletry. "My suitcase is in the cabinet. Top shelf. There's a chair if you can't reach it." Tiptoeing to reach her fur comb, her nose mere inches away from the mirror cabinet's shiny surface, her head turned to her reflection. She frowned upon seeing her bloodshot and wet eyes giving away her true feelings, and with yet another sigh, wiped them clean.

Despite Judy's clumsy condition, it took the two does less than ten minutes to pack up everything essential and prepare the rest of the apartment to stay vacant for some time. The suitcase was splayed on the bed, and was mainly filled with her clothes and college supplies. Judy figured studying would suffice as a good way to keep herself distracted, but that it was also a necessity to keep up with her fellow students. On top of that, she still needed to call to work to explain the details of the situation, but that would need to wait for later.

' _Is that everything, Bun Bun?'_ Bonnie asked using her paws, wanting to get her daughter out of the apartment as soon as possible.

"Almost", Judy answered and proceeded to turn down the bed. Once done, she reached under the covers and pulled out a grey, extremely wrinkled hoodie. Pulling it up to her nose, she basked in the smell and feel of it, just like she did most nights before drifting to unconsciousness. Nothing in the apartment matched the sentimental value of the oversized piece of clothing, not even her hearing aid. And that was saying something.

Folding the cloth neatly and placing it in the suitcase before finally pulling the zipper closed, Judy took one last look of her second home. Odds were, she wouldn't come back until she had her mate with her.

* * *

Dawn Bellwether wasn't an idiot. Upset, maybe, but not dumb. She knew the operation had failed, and would have to be put down soon before the authorities could make the inevitable link to her. Then again, that would take them a rather long while for the same exact reason. She'd been _very_ demanding in terms of precautions when making her plan, and it had paid off. That carefulness had left her an open backdoor to escape through. But she didn't want to do so just yet. She could trust her safety net for a few more weeks.

"How much longer do you think these'll last?" she asked the ram next to her, staring at the last batch of Night howler. She'd never been too fond of visiting the underground lab, nor the sheep who ran it, but this time it was a must.

"Unless you wanna speed things up a little and put a few more of 'em preds in hospital, I'd say three weeks. At most", Doug replied, ceasing the production and stumbling over to her in his yellow hazard suit. "We're lower on the cover-up juices, though. Probably gonna be out in about two", he continued. Truth be told, Dawn was proud of having come up with the idea of masking the after products of the blue toxin with other chemicals. Sure, the dose weakened the original reaction caused by the pallets, but it also made it nearly impossible for anyone to recognize the toxin. All they needed were two injections and there were no traces of anything out of the ordinary, only minor risings in certain hormone levels. "But you could've asked me that through a phone call which begs the question, why have you stumbled into our fine lair?"

The ewe reached into her blazer's breast pocket and pulled out three rolls of cash. "Can't leave you all without pay, now can I? We're shutting the operation down. No more attacks from now on. We don't want any extra risks at this point."

The ram nodded. "I don't think Jesse and Walter are gonna be all too happy to hear that. We'll still be deliverin' this batch to the hospital, right?"

"Yes, same procedure as always", she confirmed, turning on her heels to make her exit. "I'll let our little mole know it'll be the last one."

"They still don't got the slightest clue about him, do they?"

"Not with the résumé I put together for him", Bellwether stated proudly, walking towards the exit in the back end of the cart. "The only thing that could expose him at this point would be him turning himself in." She stepped out of the wagon and onto the tracks, regarding the other woolen mammal one last time. "Well, it's been a pleasure, Mr. Ramses. I wish you and your friends a successful future in your new jobs for the city."

"Why thank you, Ms. _Mayor_ , that's very kind of you", he quipped back in an innocent tone. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some boring science stuff to take care of." With that, the metallic door slid shut, causing a loud thud to echo in the dimly lit tunnel.

Despite not having reached her goals of cleaning the streets of Zootopia from the dangerous and filthy things known as _predators_ , she couldn't help but smile at the way the ram had said her current title. "Oh lambchops, _does it feel good_ to be appreciated", she muttered quietly as she rose the stairs to the vacant platform.

* * *

Family helped- if only slightly. So did home and the pleasant memories of her kithood it awoke. Whenever her thoughts tried to overwhelm her, there was always some activity she could drown herself into. Whenever she began to feel lonely, there was always someone to fuss over her, show her she still had mammals in her life who cared for her. It might've not seemed like much, but just knowing she had someone to always talk to made the coping more bearable, even when she didn't exactly utilize the opportunity.

Of course, there were also times when none of that helped and she found herself in a weepy heap. And despite it having been nearly a month and a half since her first night at the hospital, those times were still just as frequent as back then, if not even more so. She was still missing her appetite too, which was certainly no help in keeping her emotional levels stable.

Judy liked to think that was the reason why her father's sudden aha moment got her so worked up.

Sitting at a dinner table, ironically enough, she could only watch in dreadful anticipation as her father paced back and forth the room, chatting away into his phone about her uncle Terry's encounter with _Midnicampum holicithias_. The flower had been - and was still being - used around the farm to keep insects off the produce, and had proved to be quite harmful to mammals as well, although in a completely different way. Judy was angry at both of her parents for not recalling the incident sooner, but more than that, was hopeful of it leading to some good news, or even a conclusion. Letting her mother hug her tighter as she clasped her own muzzle with both paws, she took in every detail of her father's expression, intently looking for a smile or any other sign of relief that could be caused by the mammal on the other side of the line. When the buck stopped, and met her gaze with shattered eyes, it was little she could do to prevent her ears from falling against her back in defeat. Many of her siblings at the table seemed to understand the meaning behind the action too, the grey doe receiving numerous sympathetic looks and pouts.

Some more words were exchanged before Stu hung up and sat opposite to the two does. With a sigh, he lifted his paws from the table top and signed. _'I'm sorry, Jude. They said they'd already got the same hint from others. No major developments so far, but they're-'_

"They're _working_ on it, I know, just like the ZPD is", she spat with an uncharacteristically venomous tone, done with having to receive the same news over and over again. "But it's been over a month already! How have they still not found the frigging antidote?!"

Deep down Stu couldn't agree more with his daughter, but he still maintained a neutral and calming façade, needing to show his kit that everything would eventually turn okay. Bonnie was quicker on the verbal side however, detaching from Judy just enough to be able to move her arms about. _'Honey, I'm sure they're doing their best.'_

A flash of desperate anger crossed the younger grey doe's face. "I don't want their best!" she shouted and got up from the bench, having no trouble doing so with her now fully healed appendage. In need for some fresh air, she strode towards the hallway that led to the front entrance. "I just want my life back."

"I want Nick."

* * *

The world was a blur for the red fox when he came to, both visually and mentally. The feeling was very similar to having been woken at an ungodly hour in the early morning after a _hard_ night of drinking. Before he even realized it, his body was overcome with a combination of terrible nausea and what felt like a series of explosions inside his skull, his stomach immediately deciding to empty its contents in response. His reflexes were barely fast enough so that he missed the mattress, which he now recognized was not his own. The vulpine tried to get up, but found that his limbs were virtually limp.

Breathing heavily, Nick moved backwards to lean against the wall, trying to get a better look of the dark room. His mind was racing to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but he simply couldn't recall how he'd ended up there. The last memory he had was of visiting Finnick for whatever reason.

As his vision cleared, he noticed an odd gleam seemingly float in the air by the window. Multiple seconds ticked by before he could make out the outline of what looked like a glass wall dividing the space in half. Suddenly becoming very aware of what his current imprisonment, nudeness, mental haze, and the mild aches all over his body were pointing towards, he let out a loud gulp, slowly looking down at his own body for any evidence of what he thought had happened.

Thankfully, after a thorough inspection, he concluded that the worst injuries on him were a few spots of tangled, unkempt fur. The small sensation of relief upon the discovery was short lived however, as another realization dawned on him: he hadn't seen the fennec by himself.

Bolting onto his feet and pacing to the glass wall, he did his best at fighting back the second wave of physical unwellness. "Hello?" he shouted into the direction of the doorway on the other side, "Is anyone there?" He waited for a response, and was eventually rewarded with distant but clearly urgent steps originating from the other side of the door. The vulpine's heart rate picked up substantially as he noted a surveillance camera at the top right corner of the room, monitoring his every move. Before he could add the aspect to his growing scale of theories of his whereabouts though, a sound of metal clinging together caught his attention, quickly followed by one of the door clicking open. The moment seemed to stretch on forever until light finally flooded in as the door came open, the baby blue of his assumed capturer's outfit freeing Nick from his fear filled misery. It was just a nurse. He was just in a hospital.

Leaning against the transparent surface for support, he watched the nurse, a rather small male meerkat, walk inside with wide open eyes. Feeling himself calm down a little, Nick could organize his remaining panic into a coherent line of thought, which he then vocalized. "Where's Judy?" he asked hurriedly, worry evident in his tone. "Is she okay?"

The meerkat, still looking as if he'd witnessed a miracle of some sort, pulled out a phone from his pocket and dialed in a number before turning back to the larger carnivore. "Judy Hopps?" he inquired in a high-pitched voice. "She was dispatched just over two months ago, but what you really should be worried about now is your own well-being. Are you feeling alright?"

Terror awoke deep inside the vulpine. "Hold on, did you say two months? And she was here too? What the hell happened?"

"Answer the question first, sir."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little nauseous. No biggie."

"Alright, good", the meerkat stated, bringing the phone up to his left ear. "Just a minute, sir, I need to contact our project leader. She'll answer all your questions, alright? I'll go get you something to wear, and something you can clean that mess up with."

The nurse was already about to head off when Nick opened his muzzle for a final time. "Hey, could I borrow your phone for a sec once you're back by any chance?"

* * *

Judy was comfortable. Though still very much distressed emotionally, there was little to nothing she could've changed to put her body more at ease. The warmth trapped under the blanket combined with the grey hoodie which she was hugging to her nose, had her at the brink of yet another happy dream of the past. Sleeping had in fact quickly become one of her favorite pastimes during her stay at Bunnyburrow. The sandman was the only one who could make her forget all about the unjust reality, and instead make her focus on the pleasant memories she had in store. But as everything else good in the prior months, the comfort was bound to be ripped away from her.

The door to her room opened in a quick motion, allowing a passageway inside for the light in the hallway. The sudden brightness stabbing at her eyes, she couldn't make out who had disturbed her slumber, but decided to pout nonetheless. Her expression turned even more sulky when she felt the warmth surrounding her disappear as the blanket was pulled away from her, forcing her to sit up and regard the blurry character.

As her vision sharpened though, she soon recognized the fiend as her mother; her mother who was digging through her wardrobe, talking on the phone, and - judging by the way her shoulders were rapidly slumping and rising - crying. Judy's heart was immediately sent to a freefall upon the sight, naturally expecting the very worst. "What is it?" she asked with some tremor, both in her body and in her tone. She only got a pair of jeans thrown at her in response, followed by a pair of socks and a checkered, yellow flannel shirt to cover up the tank top she was wearing.

But then the older doe turned around and met her seeking gaze, effectively wiping away all her fears. The few tears that darkened the fur under her eyes hadn't been shed in sadness, but in joy.

Setting the phone on the nightstand, Bonnie hugged her kit, took a step back, and signed: _'Get dressed, sweetheart. Nick's waiting for you.'_

* * *

After having been filled in with the events that had led him in the situation he was currently in, Nick was afraid. Even though he'd had no control of himself, and couldn't blame himself for that, he'd hurt Judy- badly. No matter how well he knew that the rabbit had loved him immensely, he was afraid that she'd now look at him in a different light; see him as a threat instead of someone who'd do anything to protect her. As idiotic as the thought would've seemed only a few hours before, he was afraid she wouldn't want to be with him any longer. He could only hope things hadn't changed too drastically.

Tapping his claws in a rapid rhythm against the metallic frame of the bed he was sitting on, he kept glancing at the wall clock just above the doorway, keeping up a constant fight against the anxiousness that was trying to boil his insides. It had been well over three hours now since he'd called Bonnie. He'd spent most of that time listening to some bunny doctor ramble on about his condition and how they wanted to proceed with his care now that he was no longer acting like he wanted to kill everything in his field of view. No one had any clue why he and everyone else going through the same treatment had recovered, but he was glad nonetheless. The red fox had also been moved to a standard room instead of the cage he'd been trapped in earlier, though the door would be kept locked at all times to prevent any unfortunate incidents from occurring.

Shifting his eyes to his paws, once again, he inspected them with barely any thought. There was nothing else in the room that was as distracting as watching the keratin of his claws collide with the chrome pipes, the action producing an almost euphoric cling with each tap. However, this time there was something different about it; something that didn't quite match his movements, nor even the ticking of the wall clock. Perking his ears and ceasing the tapping, he quickly recognized the disturbance as a little patter coming from the hallway, growing clearer and more acute each second. Snapping his head towards the door, the fox swallowed past the lump in his throat.

Sure enough, a pair of grey, black tipped ears appeared in the vertical window slit of the door, ones which quickly fell out of view as the bunny on the other side realized that turning the door handle wasn't much help. Before she could breach through the wooden barrier though, another set of perked rabbit ears moved to where hers had been, and there was an audible beep from a keycard lock.

Nick didn't need to wait long for the door to fly open as Judy rushed past the doctor inside, connecting teary eyes with him instantly. However, as he'd feared, she didn't run to him, which was completely understandable. All her prior haste was gone and replaced with hesitation. It showed in the way she was sobbing, it showed in the way she was inching towards him, it showed in the way her nose was twitching, it showed in the way her ears were standing up in alert, and it definitely showed in the way she was looking at him- as if he wasn't there.

Or maybe, _hopefully_ , she simply couldn't _believe_ he was there. It had been months, after all.

Giving her a meek smile, he slowly offered his paw to her, begging her to join him on the bed. Multiple stretched moments passed as she stared at the appendage with unblinking eyes and a quivering lip. Nothing in the world had ever made him so terrified as the thought of her never reaching back. And that was slowly becoming reality to him.

Tears of desperation began dwelling in Nick's own eyes as he tried to drill into the rabbit's soul with his gaze, tried to convey just how much she meant to him. And finally, just as he was about to give up all hope, there was a change in her expression, a slight softening that soon broke into a sad smile.

"Oh, N-Nick", she muttered under her convulsing breath and leaped, latching onto him with enough strength to actually hurt his ribcage. Burying her face in the scruff of his neck, she let all her pent-up sentiments flow free. "I've- I've missed you so much, you- _you_ _ **dumb**_ _fox!"_

The vulpine, struggling for breath, could only do his best at calming her down, running his paws along her now droopy ears and hugging her even tighter. Kissing the top of her head, his eyes shifted to the wide open doorway where three rabbits stood, all looking very ready to break down, themselves. He was family.

"I know, Judy. I know."


	27. Reunited

_*-and I'd also like to thank everyone at Savanna Central, who participated in the treatment of the twenty-three hapless individuals. Not only did you manage to get them all back to their families and loved ones, but you also helped to quell the growing tensions amidst the residents of the city. Without your hard work, Zootopia wouldn't be the same great place it once was, and now once again is- a place where anyone truly can be anything. And as your mayor, I will do everything within my range of power to keep it so.*_

 _*And now onto other news. Leodore Lionheart's trial has been scheduled to take place at the end of next week. The former mayor was arrested in last January and is being held responsible for several felonies including abduction and false imprisonment of several mammals. Lionheart is yet to break his si-*_

Without a warning, the screen cut to some cooking show, interrupting the newsreader and interpreter mid-sentence. Judy shot a partially confused but mostly annoyed glare at the fox sitting on the other end of the sofa. "Hey! I was watching that, you jerk!"

The heavily clothed fennec just shrugged and proceeded to skim through the channels in a bored manner.

"I guess you look _and_ act like a kit then, huh?" she huffed, burrowing back into the warmth of the couch. Sharing the apartment with the desert fox had proved much more challenging than she'd thought upon first meeting him. Although they'd already become close friends in only a few short weeks, there were still times when Judy wanted nothing more but to murder the smaller mammal. She could only wonder how Nick had been able to put up with him for so many years. "At least find something that has subtitles on it."

The fennec sighed and clumsily retrieved his phone from a pocket of his quilted jacket. The TV was left playing yet another episode of "Who's a Good Boy?" as Finnick removed his tiny mittens, opened the lock screen, and spoke into the device. It hadn't taken long for the canid to get frustrated at the impracticality of using sticky notes to communicate with her, so nowadays most of their conversations were had with the assistance of "Bark2Text". Done speaking, he checked the screen for any major mistakes and showed it to her. _*You don't even live hear floppy ears*_

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'll pay the rent when the paperwork's done, okay? Besides, Nick told me I could feel at home."

The sand colored fox repeated his prior actions with his phone, a ghost of a hangover shading his face. The two drinking buddies had had quite the evening in a nearby bar the day before, both having swigged far too much considering their small sizes. She was outright amazed how her own fox had managed to get them both home safe.

Then again, it had been completely the larger vulpine's fault she'd needed such an extensive amount of alcohol in the first place.

She was frustrated; had been for the past two and a half weeks now. Nick hadn't been the same since the attack and had treated her not as his mate, but something very fragile, something he needed to protect around the clock- even from himself. Despite her hardest efforts, he'd avoided getting involved in anything more intimate than brief kissing sessions, which - considering how heatedly her feelings had blazed for him recently - was driving her to the edge of insanity. It didn't help she'd had to live without him for months on end before the problem had even surfaced.

The whole thing made her worry there was something seriously wrong between them, even if she recognized the suspicion as very outlandish.

 _*Well the dumbass ain't here right now so isle watch whatever I damn well please*_

"Couldn't you just leave before he gets back?" she asked pleadingly. "I'll pay you an extra ten."

As per usual, the fennec didn't look too enthusiastic at the request. _*Don't feel like it*_

"Not even for twenty?"

Finnick turned the TV off and shifted in place to look at her from a more comfortable angle. _*Rabbit I'm gonna say the same thin I did yesterday*_

"That you have to listen to both of us whine about the same stuff, and that you're like this close to biting our faces off if we didn't stop?"

The desert fox nodded and spoke into the device once again. *Your not that bad with booze after all bland fur*

Judy scoffed. The only two things Finnick was any good at were offering her beer and acting as an irritant in her life. "Oh, look who's talking. At least I don't look like a pile of sand", she reciprocated. "Nor did I pass out by the end of the night."

The fennec held up his paw and opened his mouth, looking as if he wanted to to say something into the phone but not coming up with anything. So, Judy continued: "I just want to know what's bothering him so much, Finn. Please".

He blinked a few times, his mind furiously reeling to find a way to dodge the question. Unsurprisingly, it only took seconds for the ex-hustler still hidden somewhere deep inside of him to find the perfect way. Lifting the device to his snout, he spoke: _*You sure about that*_

Judy read the text and immediately bobbed her head up and down. "Certain."

 _*It ill cost you thirty*_

The rabbit's eyebrows scrunched together in disbelief. "Seriously? You're joking, right?" The shake of his head only confirmed his idiocy to her. "You have a chance to finally be nice to someone and you demand money for it? What's wrong with you?"

 _*Chronic lack of wealth now you wanna know or not*_

She glared at him with all her might, but it was to no avail. "Twenty is the highest I'll go."

The fennec didn't look pleased. _*Make it twenty five and I'll leave early too*_

Judy thought about the offer for a moment. Deciding it was probably the best deal she was going to get, she took out her wallet and sourly complied. "Ugh, fine! Here, now tell me."

Maintaining an even façade, Finnick accepted the cash, already recording his next message. Once finished, he let her read it. _*I think isle leave that to your dumbass*_

The bunny was confused by the answer. "What do you mean? I just paid you to tell me!"

Finally, the vulpine's face broke into a small grin. _*No you paid me to know why his being a prude which isle accomplish by leaving you two alone for the night*_

Judy could feel her muscles tense in annoyance whilst her stare turned ice cold. "But you'd already promised me to leave us alone yesterday, you insufferable jerk!"

 _*Yeah and this way I got five more bucks for it*_ , the fennec smiled. _*Anyway have fun trying a break the reborn virgin*_

Feeling betrayed, Judy watched him walk to the vestibule and eventually disappear around the thick walls of ice. Silently muttering a few made-up curses, the bunny scooted to the other end of the couch to retrieve the remote and plopped back to into the cushions. She still had some time before she'd have to start getting ready.

* * *

It was a full three quarters later that she finally felt her phone buzz in her pocket, uncomfortably so as the new pair of jeans she'd picked for the occasion felt like they were squeezing her legs blue. Still, it was a sacrifice she was willing to make in order to force her fox, her mate, back to his senses.

Digging the mobile out of their shared denim prison, she unlocked it and went on to investigate the message. _*Do I need to knock in some super-secret rhythm to get inside or what? You seriously suck at answering the door, Fluff.*_

Judy felt nervousness pierce her body. Looking back into the mirror she'd been standing in front of for the past ten minutes, she made sure her pale-yellow top was hugging her upper body snugly and tried to cast her best seductive look only for the attempt to be followed by a defeated sigh. She was out of touch, and she knew it.

Settling for her looks, she quickly strode to her and Nick's bedroom to fetch her hearing aid and continued onwards to the front door. She took a calming breath, put on a subtle but confident smile, and, lastly, pulled the door open. No matter how accustomed she was with seeing the vulpine, there was no way she could ever think of him as anything else but the definition of handsome… or abundantly desirable.

"You need to come up with new jokes, dork."

With a quick peck on her forehead, the red fox stepped past her into the apartment and disrobed himself from his jacket and scarf. Seeing him not react to her jab, she closed the door and spoke again: "How did the examination go? Anything out of the ordinary?"

His outside clothing now neatly placed on a coat hanger, Nick closed the short distance between them, wrapped his arms around the rabbit's waist and nuzzled the space between her now droopy ears. She in turn pressed the side of her head against his stomach, enjoying the moment's proximity to the fullest.

Despite his mouth practically touching the earpiece, he made sure to speak in a louder voice than usual: "Nope, still healthy as a horse. They want me back for one last time next week, though. Still have a few final tests they wanna run, just in case. Oh, Dr. Bales sends her best wishes to you, by the way."

"Mhmm", she purred into the dark green fabric, "that's sweet of her. I'm surprised she still remembers me."

"Like anyone could forget you, sweetheart. Now, are you going carry me to the kitchen or just let me go? We've got dinner to cook, remember?"

Reluctantly, the bunny loosened her hold on the vulpine and let him slip past her, although not without leaving a trace of her scent on his shirt first. Following him into the hallway, she kept her eyes locked on his swaying, magnificent black-tipped tail, which nearly ended up being stepped on when the fox came to an abrupt halt in the living room. He crouched down to talk to her whilst her paw, guided by instinct, moved onto his throat. "Where's Finn?"

Judy hid the truth behind a face of distant reminiscing. "Umm… I'm pretty sure he said he was going to spend the evening by one of his coworkers' place."

Unbeknownst to Judy, Nick's eyes narrowed the tiniest bit upon hearing this. "On a Monday?"

She nodded and gave a hum that signed confirmation. "They're having a barbecue just outside of Tundratown, I think. There was something about finally getting someplace warm, too."

"He's at a barbecue?" he inquired, completely taken by surprise. "Better yet, a social event?"

Fearing her plan would end up fully unraveled by her terrible lying skills if the conversation went on for any longer, she gave him a light nudge and stepped past him. She put extra effort into keeping her hips in an alluring side to side motion as she made her way to the kitchen, knowing her mate's gaze would (hopefully) be locked on her tail and the area around it the entire time. "You seem awfully jealous there, Slick. Are you sure you don't wanna go with?"

The bunny had just opened the fridge door when she felt a damp nose ruffle the fur of her vertex. "Nah, I think I can manage. It's just really unusual of him."

Judy smiled, a bit more cheer in her tone than before. "Good. Now, do you want some chicken to go with the pasta or are you fine with just beans?"

"Can't we have both?"

"If you're willing to go shopping tomorrow, then yes."

A quiet, high-pitched whine followed the statement, but Judy didn't relent.

The two each prepared their own dishes, both continuously voicing reasons as to why they were the better cook and why their food would taste so much better than the carbage on the other's plate. Judy ended up triumphing as the champion of their triweekly teasing competition once the fox had bit into his "masterful", "highly sophisticated", and still pink chicken breast. The bunny set up the movie she'd chosen for the night and sat next to him on the couch. The dinner lapsed quickly and mostly in silence, both mammals too hungry to throw around the usual quips.

For dessert they'd agreed on bowlfuls of vanilla ice cream topped with a variety of berries. The considerably smaller dishes enabled Judy to scoot closer to the vulpine, and once the bowls were empty, she could finally put her plan into action.

"Can you lay down on your side?" she asked in an indifferent tone. The fox obeyed and pulled her against himself, neither of their attention ever leaving the TV. Appearing as if she was merely trying to find a more comfortable position, she squirmed in place and wiggled her rump against his lower midsection. Repeating the action every few minutes, she eventually reached her desired goal, feeling a familiar hardness steadily applying pressure on her behind.

Her motions became less and less heedful, her body craving for her mate's presence more than her mind could resist it. On her sixth repeat, the fox grabbed her by the waist and held her still. It wasn't enough though as Judy kept squirming whenever she thought he wouldn't notice. Her instincts were wrong all three times.

"Stop it, Fluff", he commanded in a low monotone, shifting himself deeper into the couch, away from her. "Not today, alright?"

She tried to move backwards with him but his paws hindered the attempt useless. "I don't know what you're talking about", she answered in the same even voice he'd used.

"Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about", he accused, Judy still unable to get a proper read on his voice. "You didn't seriously think I would fall for the whole 'Finnick's at a barbecue at a friend's place' thing, did you? I'll admit I can be pretty dense sometimes, but c'mon. That's insulting, Carrots."

Pouting a little, she snatched the remote from him and paused the movie. "And what if he really has changed enough to do that?"

She felt a warm whiff of air hit the top of her head, clearly a snort. "That's a very hypothetical situation, but alright. If we're excluding the fact you were practically dry humping me just a moment ago, there's also the fact that the whole place reeks of coffee and - how should I put it? - a very… _expectant_ bunny."

"Alright, _fine",_ she conceded, "maybe I _am_ just trying to get in your pants. So what? I mean, it's not like you've granted me easy access these past few weeks."

He didn't budge. "Carrots, believe me, I'm only thinking about your own good."

"How?" she nearly shouted and sat up to face him, her face wrinkled in confusion and disquiet. "How's you being so distant doing any good to me? Ever since you were dispatched I've been worried sick that you don't love me the same way anymore or that you've found someone better than me!" Her voice fell to a near whisper as her entire posture slumped. "I waited for you for so long and now it feels like I'm losing you all over again."

Nick felt her words stab at his heart. Hurting the rabbit was the complete opposite of what he wanted to accomplish with keeping himself on a leash. Getting up from the couch with his ears pressed halfway against his skull, he walked beside her and got on his knees on the cold floor so that their eyes were on the same level. Knowing she would lower her head for his voice to reach the earpiece more easily, he gently cupped her cheeks with both paws and lifted her gaze back up to himself. A careful smile and a soft kiss on the forehead later, he pulled back a little and, for the very first time, signed to her: _'You know I love you'._ He watched her expression turn from sadness and discomfort to awe, her nose starting to twitch, pupils expanding and ears raising a small bit. _'Only you.'_

The sudden flurry of emotions had Judy's eyes glistening with tears and her mind in a haze. "You- you've learned sign?" she marveled out loud, her throat tightening without a warning. "For me?"

Nick wanted to make a snarky remark then and there, but had to settle for a simple _'Yes'_ and a nod due to his still inadequate vocabulary.

Judy could do nothing but stare at him, feeling the immense love she had for the fox grow stronger and stronger by the second. The pain of not being able to show the vastness of that love was becoming unbearable. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself as close as possible, mumbling into his neck: "Dumb fox. I told you you didn't have to."

His muzzle already in a prime position for talking, he did just that. "Just wanted to surprise you a little. You'll need to teach me a little if we want to get rid of the sticky notes, though."

"Nuh-uh", she denied, not quite ready to pull her face away from the canid's fur just yet. She'd liked the short cut a lot, but it would never beat the fluffiness and warmth of his winter coat. "I like the notes and first you'll have to tell me what's been bothering you so much."

He took a deep breath and carried them back onto the couch. Judy was surprised that he still let her sit in his lap despite knowing her intentions. "Alright, here's the thing, Cottontail", he began, his paws holding her down by the shoulders, "I'm just as frustrated as you are. Believe me when I say I want nothing more than to carry you to the bedroom right now and spend the rest of the week just by the two of us." Calmly and gently, he cupped her cheek and ran the pad of his thumb over the rabbit's silky fur. "You're my lifemate, Judy. Nothing less."

"So what's the problem, then?"

His tone gave away some embarrassment. "Honestly, I'm scared", he admitted. "I'm afraid that getting into a situation that instinctual and free of restrictions… well…"

Judy spoke without really thinking, her mate's odd behavior finally making sense.

Well, at least from his dumb, dumb, **dumb** perspective.

"You're scared you'll go savage again?"

He shrugged. "That and killing you in the process. I'm actually surprised you're ready yourself considering what happened."

Judy's face screamed disbelief and her voice wasn't much different. "Nick, you didn't just magically _turn_ savage; you were poisoned, for goodness' sake! Unless that happens again, I very much doubt you're going to hurt me."

"Yeah, but you can't be sure about that", he countered calmly. "No one ever even figured out what the toxin was, so it's kinda impossible to say if it had some long-term effects. I just want to be sure."

"Oh c'mon, Nick! Did you switch brains with an 80-year-old conspiracy theorist grandma? The whole thing is over! Even the mayor said so!"

"And what makes that sheep an expert on what happened? For all we know she could've been involved in it the whole time. I mean, it wouldn't be that surprising considering what our last mayor did", he added. "I just don't want to risk it, Carrots."

Judy frowned slightly, his stubbornness slowly getting the better of her. However, she couldn't let something as simple as lust get in the way of respecting his own wishes. "Fine, we'll have it your way, then", she said collectedly. "How long do you need?"

"Till the last doctor's visit", he answered in a steady voice, relieved by her compliance. "After that I'll be fully exploitable-", he gave the base of her ear a lick, "anytime you want."

A shiver travelled down her spine. "Okay, one week. I guess I can handle that", she mumbled. "But you don't get to tease me like that. At all."

Unsurprisingly, his lips twisted into an impish grin upon hearing this. "Or what? You're gonna use your infamous bunny powers and strap me to the bed?" Having his eyes closed as if he was bathing in his own smugness, he failed to notice the bunny's expression turn into a crafty, calculating one. Only when he didn't elicit any rise out of her with the comment did he realize, what he'd actually said. Opening his eyes wide, he pulled back a little and locked gazes with her, unable to brush off the spark of hope in that perfect visage of hers.

Maybe there was a shortcut back to normalcy after all.

"Uh-", he stammered, leaning forward again with a meek smile creeping up to his muzzle. "I think we just came up with a new use for my old ties, huh?"

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the notification everybody. Just went over the files and improved everything a little.**

 **Oh, and I'm also working on a new chapter now. The story _will_ get a _proper_ ending.**


	28. Zap

Real life can get messy. Sometimes things simply don't go the way they're planned. There might be nothing one can really do about it, but often that's just the way it is. Whether the situation is by one's own making or not, deserved or completely unjust, there's no changing reality. Life doesn't follow any laws, ethic codes, and is in no shape or form concerned over one's feelings. No matter how hard one may try, how much effort they put into being the best they possibly can, there's no avoiding rock-bottom.

Judy had learned this the hard way. Having been slammed face first into the most difficult time of her life had drastically changed her naïve thinking and proved her to be just as vulnerable to random chance as anyone else in the city. It had taken months upon months of sorrow, longing, solitude and emotional agony before her fatigued feet had left the cold, rough bedrock, and she'd caught a glimpse of light in the future. Reaching that light had been a whole journey in its own, an exhausting one at that, but the reward for making it was _much_ more than just worth it.

A moment of perfection, not an inch short of bliss in its most purified form.

She was finally, after so many hardships, back together with Nick. No longer was there so much as a modicum of cautiousness hanging over their heads whenever they were around each other, both the bunny and the fox having regained their past confidence and healed the bond of mutual understanding to its former glory. Their usual banter and teasing had made their reappearance, and whatever gap in intimacy had previously separated them had at long last been bridged- thoroughly. If anything, it seemed that the difficulties they'd faced had only strengthened their adoration for one another, and give the moments they shared together infinitely more value.

It turned out spending time with Nick was so addictive and wonderful and heavenly that she'd entirely missed the negative effect it had had on her.

"Shut up", she mumbled after reading the yellow sticky note the vulpine had handed her. It was impossible not to catch the self-satisfaction and smug he wore in that illegally attractive grin of his and the bunny couldn't help but let a slight flush creep on her cheeks and the insides of her lowered ears. It wasn't like she cared that much anyways. The embarrassment was well deserved, after all.

Nick, casually strolling right on his mate's side with his tail in a calm sway, took out another thin stack of the notes out his pocket and wrote on the top one. Though he'd improved drastically at sign language since beginning to use it actively, they both much preferred sticking to the physical option in traffic, where it was rather difficult to concentrate on the other mammal's gestures constantly. And while neither of the pair, Judy specifically, ever wanted to miss out on a single chance they had at a reciprocal, vocal conversation, their weekly speech and sign training sessions had proven very useful in keeping their thoughts a secret from the likes of Clawhauser and some other students.

Not only that, the occasion also gave them a good excuse to come up with small contests between each other. The prize pool varied widely from Sunday to Sunday, and so far, the bunny had claimed each victory.

' _I'm just saying, you usually don't just forget to do assignments, Carrots. That's very uncharacteristic of you.'_

She gave him a brief, half-serious glare. The way he walked and kept glancing at her with his green eyes nearly as full of victory as himself was slowly getting on her nerves. "I didn't forget", she stated flatly, "I just didn't know I was supposed to already have it finished today".

Scribbling ensued. _'Uhuh, I'm sure Mr. Oks hasn't heard that one yet. I just wish I could've seen his face when you told him the legendary Judith Hopps had nothing to give back.'_

The rabbit pouted and kept her gaze on the snowy street in front of her. The occasional harsh frosts of spring were slowly but surely changing into much milder weather conditions, and outside of Tundratown, summer was well on its way to warm the hearts of countless soon-to-be vacationers. Judy was not one of these mammals.

Having been unable to attend college for the entire time Nick had been hospitalized had left her with dozens of lectures, essays, books and other assignments to catch up on. Luckily COST's management had been willing to dismiss her lengthy absence due to the more than unusual circumstances and had even offered her a chance to complete the courses she'd missed during the summer. Granted, she'd been gone for close to four months and only had two and a half to fill the gap, but at least Nick would endure the agony with her as he was facing the same exact sentence.

Yellow and black in her vision made her realize she was about to make a wrong turn, and she quickly straightened her trajectory, hoping she hadn't appeared as clumsy as she felt.

' _Did I overdo it again?'_

A small smile tugged on the corners of her lips as she turned her gaze back on the fox, the smirk having been toned down to a rare, almost apologizing expression that had her heart melting by the time she answered. "Nick, I seriously doubt I'd be walking here by your side if I couldn't handle a little sass. Besides", she added after a moment of thought, "I think this'll be the perfect wake-up call for me".

Curious and doubtful, he looked at her for a second before starting on another comment. _'What do you mean by that?'_

Evil joy and a reasonable slice of sadness caused by the reality of what she was about to say went to war with each other until her mind decided to projectile the latter onto the vulpine. "Oh, nothing too big. I just need to invest more time in studying and less on cuddles."

Against all her expectations, Nick's mood lifted by a little, and he actually dared to give a chuckle at her threat. Confused, she stared up at him questioningly.

' _Sorry, Fluff, but I'm having a hard time believing you'll do that. Not as long as you're living with someone as irresistible as me.'_

She scoffed and played unamused, though he must've seen right through the act as his whole posture immediately grew happier. Must've been her damned, good-for-nothing ears again.

Stepping up a single step and opening the door to their destination, she let her mate pass before entering herself. "Alright. I guess we'll see about that tonight then. Whoever's right gets to dodge housework for a week?"

' _You've got yourself a deal, Carrots.'_

Following the same route to their usual booth as always, the duo greeted the grumpy brown bear behind the counter and proceeded to padded seats where a familiar face was already waiting. However, that face was not in its usual chirpy setting and not alone.

Being the one ahead, Nick took the initiative, jumping up on his spot and scooting over to his side of the table so that the smaller mammal could fit next to him. He could sense that there was a cloud of negativity wafting above their heads but was having a hard time trying to figure out why. "Geez, Jen. What did you do to bring Spots down? You guys out of donuts again, or what?"

Judy, seeing his mouth already in motion, gave the uncharacteristically down looking duo a wave of her paw and seated herself. She'd grown used to keeping her focus glued on the red fox as he'd often accompany his, as well as others' speech with his best attempt at an interpretation. It was fun to inwardly giggle at some of his more major errors, but much more importantly, it gave her a chance to finally be a part of a conversation bigger in size than a simple dialog.

Two sets of gloomy, worried eyes fell on the canid, inspecting him.

"You… you didn't get the letter?" the wolverine waitress inquired in a strained voice, seeming much more on edge than Clawhauser was. Nick and she had become friends relatively quickly since having been released from their respective hospital cells, largely thanks to the two other mammals at the table. Their common experience - or the little parts they could remember of it - had made it very easy to relate to one another, and Jenny's incredibly likeable personality and love for pranks didn't hurt either.

His arms already in motion, he furrowed his brow and raised his ears to express his curiosity. "Sorry, you'll need to elaborate a little, Mr. J", he stated. "Our apartment's still sorta packed with all the fan mail I'm getting."

Despite the quip having caused a grin to spread on the bunny's muzzle, neither of the mammals with functioning ears acknowledged it. Instead, Jenny looked him straight in the eye, her gaze harsh. "The one from city hall? About the collars?"

Confusion struck Nick as he gazed questioningly at his friends. This time it was Clawhauser who spoke next. His voice was glum and somewhat apologetic. "The one Jenny got said that you and the others may be given some sort of shock collars to wear round the clock, if the court of justice passes the case", the feline stated, his focus fixed on the tabletop instead of the fox. "One of the news articles I read said that the collars prevent you from going savage by, quote on quote, _pedantically controlling the wearer's mood swings and immoderate feelings of aggression_."

"It's on the news?" the fox asked, befuddled. "Since when?"

Jenny looked at him with an unpleasant sharpness in her blue eyes, looking almost as if he'd somehow offended her just then. "I can't believe you haven't heard about this!" she exclaimed. "Have you seriously not been online even once today? What do you even do in the mornings?" she asked, only to quickly follow up with an embarrassed and much quieter "Actually, never mind, I'm pretty sure I know already."

A light tug on Nick's jacket's sleeve turned his attention back to the doe beside him. Slack-jawed, it took him a moment to analyze why she'd have such an inquisitive, mildly peeved and yet amused expression across her face, though quickly grasped on the issue that was his motionless arms and, consequently, a lack of translation. Digging his stationery back out of his pockets, he finally closed his mouth and apologized to the two other mammals at the table for the interruption.

Having written down everything he'd been told so far, the vulpine gave the piece of colored paper to his mate. It didn't come as a surprise to any of them to see the bunny's prior curiosity morph into incredulity that showed itself in the form of a clear scowl. " _A shock collar?_ Please tell me you're joking, guys", she spoke loudly, the high pitch of her voice portraying just how unbelievable she found the news. "I mean, this has to be just some prank you're trying to pull on me, right?"

Distressed glances were exhanged and some shuffling of paws occured, but no one uttered a word.

Eventually though, the wolverine waitress felt the need to break the uncomfortable silence. "I'll just bring you three the usuals, alright? I don't really feel like chatting all that much anyways."

* * *

Nick and Judy arrived at their doorstep many torturing hours later, both members of the pair anxious to see what was waiting for them on the other side of the wooden barricade. Despite having gotten a fairly detailed description of what the letter contained, neither the fox nor the rabbit could believe it to be real without seeing it for themselves first. Everything they'd been told had been too absurd to even grasp, and it wasn't _totally out of question_ that the letters were merely some well executed practical joke. Still, no matter their high hopes and optimism, the two found themselves holding their breath as Judy pushed the door open.

Nothing. The only thing lying on the clean, light parquet was a colorful rag rug, courtesy of no other than Bonnie Hopps. There was no mail to be seen.

They knew better than start celebrating just yet, though. Practically racing through the dark hallway with little to no concern for grace, the impatient bunny headed straight for the kitchen. It didn't happen all too frequently, but there had been times when Finnick would throw away all the mail without bothering to skim through it. After all, it wasn't often that the two students and deliveryfox received anything else than advertisements and an occasional hate letter addressing the grossness of the odd pairings relationship. Needless to say, while Nick didn't care much about missing a letter or a greeting card once a year or so, Judy wasn't a big fan of the fennec's actions and never let him off the hook without a good scolding.

The red fox had barely disrobed himself of his jacket when a sharp curse reached his ears. Hanging the cloth on a hook in the wall hastily, he proceeded to stride to the voice.

"I swear, I'm going to rip that idiot's tail off when he gets here", the bunny stated angrily, picking up the unopened letter from the paper bin. Meeting Nick at the end of the hallway before he'd had the time to turn the corner, she dragged him back to their room and sat on the bed, furiously clawing open the envelope. The vulpine sat down next to her and reached under the bed, pulling out a familiar cardboard box. The letter was already under the Law student's attentive stare as russet paws set the hearing aids in their place. Nick let her investigate the document in peace, settling for brief peeks at the printed text whilst waiting for his mate to finish reading.

Her earlier nervousness shifting into a mix of disappointment, frustration and sadness, Judy reprimanded the paper sheet to its official addressee and stood up, practically hissing in anger. "I can't believe this is actually true", she mumbled, digging up her phone as she paced back and forth alongside the bed. "Can we _not_ ever catch a break?"

She was in the middle of dialing a number, one she'd hoped never to need again, when Nick's paw on her forearm stopped her. His grip was careful as always, but there was a distinct firmness in it too. Having gotten her attention, he let go of her and signed. _'Mind telling me who we're calling?'_

Judy could tell by his expression that he was just as frustrated and offended by the news as she was, maybe even more so if that was even possible. "The police", she answered as if it was obvious. "I'm not going to let this slip so easily", she added, sitting back next to him. "Did you already read through the whole thing?"

He held up a finger, mumbling through the last paragraph quickly before giving her a thumbs-up and accepting the offered phone. He glanced at the screen, slightly taken aback by the long row of digits. _'This isn't public sector, is it?'_ he gestured with a mildly amused expression, proceeding to make the call and setting the gadget between his ear and shoulder. _'You never told me you'd made friends with the fuzz.'_

She scoffed. The phone beeped once. "I figured it would make for a great surprise if you ever decided to return to your hustling ways."

Another long beep.

Nick gave her a look. _'Are you blackmailing me?'_

A third electronic tone and a giggle reached his ears. "Dumb fox."

He shook his head and rolled his eyes, a genuine smile forming on his lips despite the circumstances. Just as he was about to fire back, the expected fourth sound from the device was replaced by a deep, gruff and monotonic voice. _"Chief Bogo of Precinct One talking, who's this?"_

Judy watched as the vulpine's face blanched, his gaze finding hers in an instant with a panicked look. She stifled a titter but shortly turned more serious as the importance of the call made it back to the forefront of her mind.

"Hiya there, chief! Didn't know I'd be talking with someone so-", he gave the rabbit a boop on the nose, "-influential, if I'm fully honest. Nick Wilde here. I was one of the savage case victims a few months back. Though I'm sure you recognize the name anyways. I'm kind of a big deal, after-"

The cape buffalo cut him off, obviously not interested. _"I remember you, Mr. Wilde. I'm glad to hear you've made a good recovery"_ , the comment was said in a flat tone, void of any emotion. _"Now, what might be the reason you decided to call my personal phone instead of the station's receptionist?"_

"I'm terribly sorry, sir, but I'm afraid I can't answer that sufficiently enough for your liking", Nick spoke in a dignified manner. "You see, I'm nought but a noble interpreter to the great and almighty Judith Hopps, who, being too divine to ever hear the voice of a mortal herself, has ordered me to assist her in communicating with you for the duration of this call", he could make out a quiet sigh from the other end of the phone, the following grunt only feeding his will to go on. "I can however petition her for a reply, if you're willing to wait for a few brief moments", he added, already forwarding the chief's earlier words to the bunny.

Judy, having been filled in by her fox's impressively fluent paw gestures, sat up on her knees and scooted closer to the phone, keeping the letter in one paw in case she needed it for details. "Hello, chief, Judy Hopps here. I'm sorry on Nick's behalf if he was being difficult. I noticed he was taking his sweet time again", the last was said with a quick glance at the vulpine. "We'd like to discuss a notification we received from the Department of Public Safety, if you have a few moments?"

There was a frustrated sigh and some shuffling of papers. _"Tell her to keep it brief."_

"As you say, m'lord."

The fox signed and the rabbit then continued. "That's fine, I was hoping this wouldn't take too long to get sorted out anyway. So", her voice turned cold, "taken that shock collars would undoubtedly at the very least offend one's basic rights, how is it possible that such drastic measures are being considered, let alone being voted upon, when all the evidence is pointing to acts of terrorism rather than behavioral fits? Makes me question if the council has been informed of the nature of the cases thoroughly enough?"

Nick showed little emotion as he listened to the police chief's response. _"I can assure you I've personally let them know everything we have on the cases, including your statement. However, you fail to see the bigger picture, Ms. Hopps."_

"And how's that?"

 _"Your statement is our only lead on the case. Try to imagine this from an onlooker's point of view. Predators start suddenly going savage and no one knows why. That is until one rabbit claims that all the medical personnel who've been working on the case for months are wrong and that someone is purposely targeting mammals with an extremely long-term toxin that leaves no signs in the victim's bloodstream. Now, is it more likely that this rabbit was telling the truth, or that she gave a false statement in order to protect her and her mate's..._ odd _relationship from gaining too much negative public attention."_

Nick was baffled beyond belief, and very little of that emotion had to do with the length of the cape buffalo's comment. He circled his wrist repeatedly, trying to find the right words. _'He's basically saying that mammals don't trust you because you're with a predator and think that you lied to avert criticism on our relationship.'_

Her face scrunched up. "One, that makes no sense. We've been getting tons of hateful letters and were in the headlines for a few days straight anyway, so I don't see how our relationship has anything to do with this. Two, does this vague group of mammals include officers and other members of the ZPD? My witness statement must still be valid from a legal standpoint, right?"

 _"For a detective working on the case, yes. However, the DPS doesn't need to take individual, unproved witness statements into consideration when making their policies - at the very least not in a situation like this."_

"So, what? We can't do anything but hope that the board members vote against limiting my life for no reason whatsoever?" Nick asked exasperatedly, locking eyes with his bunny who wore a similar expression of disbelief. "First I'm purposelessly attacked and lose over four months of my life, and when I finally recover, the society then views me as a threat? How do you think that looks from an onlooker's point of view, chief?" The line went quiet for a moment, the fox listening intently for a response.

 _"I'm sorry, Mr. Wilde. I can guarantee you my men are still working on the case as hard as they-"_

"With all due respect, sir, we don't need your counseling or words of encouragement", he replied sharply, and with one more sentence, he ended the call: "We only want to keep living our lives like everyone else".

The phone was dropped on the covers and silence conquered the space around the two mammals. Nick's head dropped to his paws, his posture sad and unmoving on the edge of the bed. They felt defeated.

"Nick", the rabbit began, sitting next to him with a comforting paw gently petting his backside. She didn't have to guess twice to get the gist of how the call had ended. "We'll make it through this. The whole thing is so absurd it probably won't be passed anyways", she reassured him. "Besides, we still have six days to contact the board members and others who can help. We can do this."

The vulpine remained still, his mate waiting patiently by his side. It was after a final shaky breath that he raised his head and turned his sullen face towards her. His snout went on to nuzzle the top of her head. "I don't want to be muzzled again, Judy", he uttered. "Please don't let them do it."

She cradled as much of him as possible, setting his head in her lap. "You'll be fine, Nick. I promise."

* * *

"But, surely you must see the inconsistencies with what happened, Ms. Mayor", Emmitt Otterton protested, taking a small step closer to the ewe's desk. The rest of the odd group halted their subdued retreat towards the exit to watch the old otter. His wife opened her mouth to speak, but ultimately decided against it.

"There's been very few mentions of savage predators documented in the history of mammalkind, and six months ago we suddenly saw over two dozen of them? Not only that, but they all happened to take place in a hundred-mile radius from Zootopia, there's only been two minor cases since the rest of us recovered four months ago, _and_ we have a witness saying the condition is caused by an injection", he added, looking up at the sheep on the other side of the large and shiny wooden object with pleading eyes. "Doesn't that appear at all suspicious to you?"

Bellwether pouted in empathy, leaned back in her massive chair. "I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Otterton, but like I've told Ms. Hopps many times before, there's nothing I can do at this point", she explained, her voice saddened and understanding. "With all the public distress and the recent case of Mr. Manchas going savage for the second time only two days ago, there's absolutely no way I can afford to put my full trust in just speculations - no matter how reasonable they are."

The small predator's stance seemed to collapse at that. "Please, couldn't you just postpone the vote by one day? Just one?"

The ewe let out a tired sigh and adjusted her glasses. "Again, I must apologize, but the issue is out of my hooves. Even if I did try to help you, I still wouldn't have the authority within the department to change anything. All you can do at this point is to hope that the board decides to vote against taking further action."

The small predator's eyes panned downwards slowly, his crossed paws that had been begging for the sheep's help falling to his sides. Feeling his wife's paw on his shoulder, he nodded and turned away, joining the once again leaving, diverse group. Trotting solemnly to the exit by his mate's side, he thanked the vulpine who held the door for him, one of the many unfortunate mammals like himself he'd acquainted with over the past week. "Thank you, Nick", he said, offering his paw to the fox. "Please tell Judy we're immensely grateful for her help as well. I'm sure you two spent more time on this than the rest of us combined."

The vulpine accepted the pawshake with a brief appreciative smile, having to crouch down due to their size difference. "You're selling yourselves short, Mr. Otterton. Spreading the word to the public through your shop was much more important than anything we came up with."

"I know it isn't much to offer", Mrs. Otterton said, "but if you ever want to surprise Judy, do come to us. We'll fix you the best tasting bouquet a bunny could dream of. Free of charge, of course."

"You're too good for this world, you two", he stated adoringly. "You know, there's no way I could ever turn down an offer like that. Now go before I hug you both alive."

The vulpine watched them waddle off. His green eyes then found those of the ewe, his grin vanishing instantly. "Thank you for your time, Ms. Mayor. I hope we won't have to meet under circumstances like these in the future."

She smiled back at him. "Of course, Mr. Wilde. Whatever I can do to help the mammals of Zootopia."

A slam followed as the red fox closed the door a little harder than needed.

* * *

The day passed unbearably slowly, just as the whole past week had. It had taken both Nick and Judy several hours to get over the bitterness caused by their last failed attempt at a plead for help, but eventually they simply had to accept the reality of their situation. They'd spent days on end campaigning for their cause and had nothing to show for it.

They'd failed.

"Tell her to stop sniffin' already", the small desert fox blurted out, glancing at the two mammals occupying the other end of the couch. "She's been doin' it for an hour. At least watch the damn report before you start gettin' all emotional about it."

Being the big spoon, Nick's snout was already positioned perfectly to speak into the rabbit's hearing aid. "Finn told you to stop crying. He finds it annoying."

"Shut up, Finnick. I'm not even crying. I'm just upset", she answered flatly, sniffing once more and pulling the blanket a little higher up to cover her shoulders. The ads had already been running for close to five minutes, depriving each of the three mammals of their sanity one cereal brand at a time. "Have they updated the website yet?"

The fennec pulled out his phone and tapped on the screen a few times. "Nah, still the same as five minutes ago, you idiots."

"He said nah", Nick repeated.

Judy grunted. Yet another detergent commercial came up, inducing three sets of sighs, one of which was a little drawn out and emphasized than the other two.

"Fluff", Nick said loudly, grabbing the rabbits paw under the large woolen cloth, "it's okay. You did everything you could. We'll be fine no matter what happens."

She squeezed back, _hard_. "I promised you I wouldn't let them screw you over, Nick", the rabbit uttered resolutely. "If the petition's passed-"

"Then what, my dear _Lagomorphus illogicus_?" he interrupted. "I'll stop loving you from the bottom of my heart because you stood up for me?" he inquired, amused by the mere suggestion. "Besides, what you promised me was that I'd be fine, so all you really gotta do is stick with me till the end of time and I'll be A-OK."

A disgusted tsk of impatience sounded from the smallest of the three, the red fox completely aware of how much anything too lovey-dovey annoyed his friend.

Judy couldn't help but let a sliver of a smile break through her six-hour-long pout. The relief of his words wasn't enough to wipe clean the guilt of having failed her mate, however, and so it was with a mix of feelings she grumbled him to be quiet and flapped her ears in his face.

"You're deaf and telling me to be quiet. Real classy, Car-"

"She meant it too, you moron", the fennec exclaimed. "It's starting."

Sure enough, as Nick pushed his bunny's purposelessly alert appendages to the side and forced his brain to concentrate on the world around him instead of just the bunny, he saw the very generic ZNN intro playing on the television and focused. The broadcast showed two suited mammals, a moose and a snow leopard, seated at a shiny round table shuffling their papers while the camera descended to look at them from the front. The news ticker appeared on the bottom of the screen and all three mammals' gazes locked on it, searching for the information they so desperately needed.

However, before even ten syllables had rolled onto the screen, the bar was concealed with another one: the subtitles. None of them could even exhale in their suspension.

 _*Good evening, you're watching the ZNN nightly report, I'm Fabienne Growley and with me today, as always, we have Peter Moosebridge. Good evening, Peter.*_

 _*Likewise, Fabienne.*_

 _*For our main story tonight, the Department of Public Safety has voted upon the infliction of shock collars on the twenty-five total predators who've suffered a savage condition in the past six months. The petition was taken into processing exactly one week ago as an effort to protect the major public from any future attacks while also allowing the wearer to keep living a normal everyday life. The 17 board members voted on behalf of taking the collars in practice in the next few days eleven to six.*_

Two curses echoed off the walls, one feminine and the other deep and gruff. Nick could only shake his head, shut his eyes and hug his bunny tighter. He needed to steel himself up. The camera cut to the antlered mammal.

 _*The DPS assures the Model E collar is designed to be safe in every type of situation and hasn't malfunctioned in the 136 different tests the department itself and other organizations have done over the last two years. The collars prevent the wearer from having fits of extreme aggression by measuring a multitude of different factors, such as heartbeat and certain hormone levels, and dealing appropriate electric shocks based on that information. They're also to be maintained and recharged once every fortnight in Savanna Central's district hospital.*_

Judy began sniffing again and turned on her other side to press herself against her mate. The fennec remained still, staring blankly at the screen.

 _*We actually have one of the minds behind the collar right here in the studio with us. Mrs. Hedges, we're happy you could make it.*_

 _*Why thank you, I'm glad to be here.*_

 _*Could you briefly run us through the process of what happens when a wearer of one of your collars nears a dangerously aggressive state?*_

 _*Well, first of all it's good you mentioned the word 'near', because that's a very critical point in the collars basic functioning. You see, when the wearer's mood starts to change on dramatic levels, the collar won't give them a shock immediately, but a-*_

* * *

"-beep and a yellow flashing light as a warning. And if you ignore that, we've adjusted the shock levels so that it'll safely put you down in ten seconds. But I doubt that will be necessary", the old rabbit doctor explained, wrung around her patient's neck as she tried to attach the belt-like gadget under the fox's thick fur. "Any questions?"

Sat on an examination table whilst being practically caressed by someone who wasn't his mate had Nick uncomfortable, to say the least. His eyes roamed the white and soulless walls impatiently as his back leaned on the one behind him, his feet dangling next to the doctor's step stool. He wished Stu would quit his babbling already so that Judy could be there to comfort him, but knowing the older bunny, the phone call wouldn't end until he got to exchange a few words with his son-in-law.

"Do I really need to keep this on at night, doc? I'd imagine it'll be sort of difficult to fall asleep with two blunt metal spikes sticking into the side of my neck", he stated, feeling the collar tighten.

"Sorry, Nick. We're not allowed to give you the key so you'll have to put up with it even when showering", Dr. Bales replied in an apologetic tone. "Tell me if it's too tight, alright? We don't want you get strangled on this thing, now do we?"

"Well, it could be a little looser if I'm honest."

"Good, let me just adjust it a little before we turn it on then."

He saw the door on the far wall crack open out of the corner of his eye, a thin blur of grey shining through the thin gap. His head turned to look at his bunny instinctually, the movement more or less restricted by the other lagomorph clinging onto him. Her head was peeking into the room with fatigued eyes and a dejected expression, but she wasn't the only one looking at him. In her paw was a phone, and on the screen her parents, both of whom were squinting in front of their own device to get a good look at what was going on. He gave them a poor attempt at a smile and an even lazier wave, which they returned before being pulled back behind the door.

"Hello-ooo? Mr. Wilde, are you there?" the doctor called, playfully knocking on his skull. "I understand how you feel, but the faster we finish this, the faster you two will get home to spend time together. Now, what do you think? Any complaints?"

He twisted his neck as much as the close proximity of the other mammal allowed. The collar was still a major annoyance, but at least he wasn't being chocked to death anymore. "No, it's fine."

"Excellent", the brownish bunny said and hopped off the table. "Stay there, I have the key in my desk."

He hummed in response, scratching his neck around the collar. Dr. Bales returned with a tiny microchip in her paw and climbed the step stool. She held the chip in front of the vulpine's eyes. "Once I put this in, the collar will lock with three electromagnets. You can't take it off by yourself after that and if you tamper with the magnets or the other chip we inserted in your paw earlier, we and the ZPD will get an alert", she explained. "The battery will last from two and a half to three weeks depending on how calm you keep, but you're obliged to come here in 14 days. We also have remote access to the collars controls, so you better behave yourself. Are we clear?"

He bobbed his head up and down. His fangs put pressure on the inside of his lower lip. "Crystal."

"Good, let me activate it then and we-"

"Actually, can we wait a minute?" Nick blurted out hastily, shifting away from the doctor's reaching arm. His heart was racing, and the embarrassment of having the bunny stare at him quizzically did little to help. "I uh- Carrots probably wouldn't wanna… uh-"

"What's that? Something about carrots?"

"No, I- I need Judy", he stammered, glancing at the door every other second. "To be here, that is. I just don't think she wouldn't want to miss this."

"Right", the doe said, smiling at the distracted, fidgety fox. "I'll let her know you need her", she said amusedly, "to be here, of course. Wouldn't want to come across too desperate, am I right?"

Nick didn't have a comeback. All that was in his mind was to get out of the poky room and go back home with his mate. He could only watch as the lab coated bunny exited the room and vanished into the hallway with brisk steps.

His neck itched.

The fox sighed. "I already hate you."

Nearing echoes of pawsteps and a final "Okay, I love you. Bye, guys" had his focus turned back to the doorway. Judy came rushing inside, instantly meeting his eyes as she paced to him. The tail that had been tucked between limp legs began swaying slightly and Nick could breathe again. Their paws found each other's and a soft peck was exchanged between their lips.

"They're worried for you", she told him in a soothing tone.

' _Stu doesn't approve of my new style? I think I look pretty hard in this'_ , he signed, eliciting a light chuckle from the rabbit.

"All you need now is spikes on the outside, a leatherjacket, and a skull tattoo", she quipped. Even the smallest of smiles she wore was infectious and Nick soon found himself grinning from ear to ear.

The door clicked closed behind them and all the joy evaporated from his expression. "Are we ready to continue now that you have your emotional support, Mr. Wilde?"

He sighed and gave the doctor a frustrated glare. Realizing they weren't alone anymore, Judy stepped to the side, keeping the vulpine's other paw embraced by her own.

Dr. Bales simply smiled back, climbing on the examination table. "I'll take that as a yes, then", she stated cheerfully. "I recommend you let go of her paw once we begin with the tests, alright? She's much smaller and the shocks have been adjusted for fox-sized mammals only."

He squeezed the softness of his bunny's paw tighter, feeling the collar press against his skin as the doctor took hold of it. There was a barely audible click and a long beep.

"There we go, the chip's in now", the brown bunny uttered. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Nick breathed in deep, his eyes closed and nose flaring. The light on the device stayed green, but Judy could tell that was only due to his immense concentration.

"Nick", she said, petting his forearm with her free paw. "Don't worry. You're fine, sweetie. I'm right here with you."

He breathed in deep, ignoring the itch in his neck. His mate's presence eased the feeling of tightness and captivity greatly, but the discomfort was still very much not minute.

"Take your time, Mr. Wilde", Dr. Bales said, giving him a few light pats on the back. "I understand if you're feeling a little panicked. We'll do the tests once you're perfectly calm."

It took minutes of controlled breathing and encouraging words from Judy, but he was eventually able to regain his posture. Taking in a last lungful of the disinfectant scented air, he opened his eyes and raised his head up. Judy gave him a worried look.

There was a constant weak buzz in the air around the fox. He couldn't quite tell whether it was audible or if the collar was vibrating slightly, but it was definitely adding to his anxiety.

"Feeling any better or do you need another moment?" the older doe inquired.

"No, I'm fine", he answered sharply. "Let's just get this over with."

The doctor nodded. "Good. Just let me know if you want to slow down. We'll start off with point eight milliamperes to make sure the collar is functioning properly and then we'll do the two second shock at fifty milliamps so that you know what you're getting into later on. Once we're done, you're free to leave, alright?"

"The faster, the better", he replied. His gaze turned to his left, locking on his mate. It was painful to pull his paw away from her grasp, but he needed it to get the message across. _'I'm about to become a burnt fox so you might want to stay back a few feet.'_

She clearly wanted to protest but ultimately held back, taking a small step away from him.

"Excellent", Dr. Bales stated, standing in front of the vulpine with a tablet. "So, this first one should just tickle you. I'm going to activate the collar through this tablet and I want you to tell me if you feel anything."

The feeling that followed was far from what the doctor had promised. A tickle was an insufficient way to describe it. Millions of miniscule pins and needles punctured his skin all the way from his cheeks to his shoulders while a distinct numbness occupied the immediate area of his neck around the collar. It was more like a million simultaneous pinches than a tickle.

If this was less than one milliampere, what kind of torture would fifty be?

Raising his paw, he gestured for the doe to stop. It took another irritatingly long half a second, but the awful feeling went away eventually. His tail puffed in annoyance.

"How was that?"

He rubbed his neck. "Better than the entrees they serve around here."

"Very funny, Mr. Wilde. It's nice to get constructive criticism from someone who wouldn't eat beets when they were savage."

Green eyes moved in a circle motion at the comment. "You just can't let that one go, can you?"

The rabbit grinned, much like he would on any other given day. "You should hear what the nurses say about you. We've never had a patient to make fun of for over four months, you know."

"Har har. Can we get along with this, please? I just remembered I left my beet soup on the stove", he said exhaustedly. "Oh wait, never mind, there's no such thing amongst us sane mammals!"

"Fine, sit on the floor and grab the table tightly, please. The real deal would be ten seconds with sixty-five amps, but since we don't want you stay here any longer, we'll do a downplayed version."

He did as requested, Judy inspecting curiously from the side. "Why do I need to grab on the table?"

She tapped on her tablet. "It'll be more comfortable afterwards if your claws aren't inside your palm." With a final touch of her blunt claw, a beep filled the room and the green light flicked yellow.

Then red.

Judy watched in horror as her fox spasmed on the floor, each and every one of his muscles tensed up. His lithe frame shook violently, and she had to fight the urge to help him somehow. The next two seconds felt like an eternity.

Feeling as though lightning had traveled through him, Nick collapsed on his side. His neck didn't itch anymore, it hurt. Moving on instinct, his paws took hold of the gadget that was threatening his life but soon found that it wouldn't come off. Panic engulfed the voices of the two bunnies and the second beep of the collar. He had to get it off.

He had to get the damned _muzzle_ off.

The light flicked red. A tickle surged through him, giving rational thought time to take control over his brain again. He wasn't dying, nor was there a muzzle involved. He was in a hospital, lying on the floor with his mate hugging him.

He liked her scent.

It was calming.

* * *

Sitting in the driver seat of Finnick's old van, Judy navigated the crowded streets of Savanna Central, moving with extreme care so that she wouldn't have to face the unhinged rage of the vehicle's owner. Her fox was seated next to her, staring out of the passenger side window with his shoulders nearly touching his cheeks and his arms crossed. It was like he was trying to hide the collar from her and it pained her.

"Do you wanna grab something before we get to Tundratown?"

She glanced at his direction, but he didn't move.

"Yeah, I guess we do have leftovers in the fridge, huh?" she continued after a moment of inaction, focusing on the quickly forming traffic jam around her. The car slowed down and came to a stop as the line stopped at a red light.

She turned to look at him, reaching over to rest her paw on the fox's thigh. She caught his eyes staring at her through the reflection in the window before he averted her gaze. His russet paw moved on top of her grey one.

"You don't have to hide it from me, Nick", she told him lowly. "I don't care if it's there or not."

The vulpine's shoulders sunk just a little bit lower as a sigh left him. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and began digging for what she presumed was a note and a pen. Communicating by sign was a tad too difficult whilst she was driving, so they usually stuck to the written option.

He was still in the middle of writing when he pointed in front of them. Looking over, Judy saw that the four adjacent lines of different sized vehicles were moving once again. She changed gear and eased on the gas.

Having witnessed her questionable skills in the wheel before, Nick waited until they were moving steadily ahead before sticking the piece of paper on the dashboard. The bunny read it over time, taking quick glances whenever she could.

' _Is that one tofu place we tried last month ok to you?'_

She was relieved to see him more laxed in his seat. He was observing rather than hiding. "Yeah", she smiled, "sounds good. Perfect even."

He scribbled. _'Maybe this time Ms. Famine will leave me something to eat too.'_

Judy appeared smug, rolling her eyes. She changed lanes and took a left turn at an intersection. "Well, if _someone_ had bought enough food instead of an overpriced dessert, maybe Ms. Famine would've been content with just her own taco."

An inaudible and what looked like an entertained grunt ensued. _'I guess you can order this time while I wait in the car, huh?'_

The note was met with a fading smile and a silence. She focused on the road, mulling her thoughts in her mind for the following minutes. Eventually, having not gotten any further comment from the fox, she spoke: "Do you really mean that? You're not coming inside?"

Though she could tell he was staring at her with his ears pinned halfway down, she didn't turn to face him.

There was a moment of hesitation. _'I'd rather not.'_

"It wouldn't take long, Nick. I know it's difficult for you but I'd really appreciate the help."

He squirmed in his seat, writhing under pressure and guilt as he wrote down his answer. _'Mammals will stare, Fluff.'_

She adopted a very serious expression, searching the curb for a free parking spot. "I thought neither of us cared if others judged us", she said. "I'll be right there with you. It'll be just like any other time we've been out."

Spotting a free space between two large feline-sized vehicles, Judy steered the van to it. As the fox's expression portrayed, the fit was tight, but she managed to bring the vehicle to a halt without a scratch or a dent. Neither of them made a move to exit just yet.

Now having the bunny's full attention, Nick could return to sign. _'I'm not all too sure about this, Carrots.'_

She looked at him, trying to evaluate just how vulnerable he was feeling. It would've helped greatly if he'd taken down a wall or two of his defenses and granted her full-time access to his emotions, but she could still see through him with some effort. "I'm not forcing you, sweetheart. You can stay here if you want to, but I promise you - really promise this time - that nothing special will happen if you come with me. We'll get a few stares and there'll be some chatter. That's it."

He bit the inside of his mouth and turned his gaze on the restaurant window behind her frame on the other side of the street. The long line inside and the dozens of mammals rushing past the entrance didn't lift his spirits, but, then again, he'd been in much worse situations before. Ordering takeout shouldn't have been a problem in the first place.

He sighed. _'Fine, but you better pay for this one.'_

The bunny beamed with joy and a considerable amount of pride. "There's my hustler! Never let them see that they get to you, right?"

"Right", he mouthed, opening the door carefully not to damage the other car. Judy deemed exiting from her side an impossible task and followed him out of the vehicle.

Wearing jeans and a teal sweater, there wasn't much Nick could hide the abundance of a gadget with. All he could do was to smirk smugly, steel his nerves and hope no one paid too much attention to him - redesigning his wardrobe would have to wait for later.

Crossing the busy street with little caution to the constant traffic like any other lifelong city dweller would, the pair made their way to the entrance of the mix between a cafeteria and a proper restaurant. Judy was careful not to leave the immediate closeness of her antsy mate as they stepped through the continuous flow of mammals and then the glass paned front door. She could tell he was only concentrating on getting to the counter, his vision a tunnel and ears deafer than hers. Yet he kept smirking like it was a normal sunny day, the light on the collar staying a healthy green.

Standing in a line had never been as awkward before. Nick could practically feel the stares from the nearby tables on his neck. Despite trying to filter out all the quiet mumbling, his ears swiveled and twitched frantically in the search of any unwanted comment. He didn't dare to look around to see how much attention he'd garnered, simply keeping his focus on the back of a horse one spot ahead of them.

The service seemed unbelievably sluggish. It took many minutes for each mammal to receive their orders, each food item adding to his unusual and cruel punishment. Giving his mind a distraction, he counted each passing second and step they took. His reckoning came to an end after five or so minutes as a sudden itch on his throat snapped him into reality.

He wasn't quite sure what to be madder about, the fact that they'd averaged a lousy two steps every minute or the fact someone had the audacity to snicker at him as he freed himself of the terrible feeling with his claws.

Yet his smug façade didn't falter. Not one bit.

Glancing down at his mate, he was surprised to see her smiling up at him. It was very reassuring and, for a moment, made him forget all about the curious or dubious souls around them. None of the low muttering could get to him as long as she was there, leaning on his side with content and exuberance.

Nick grinned. It was like being an emotional pillar of support wasn't quite enough for her and she needed to aid him physically too.

The line moved forward and his ear twitched again.

"… they won't last long. The rabbit's probably already screwing a wolf or something behind his back."

A ruddy tail wrapped around grey, denim covered legs. The vulpine's mind screamed trouble, but he ignored the alarm.

"You're evil", another young voice laughed.

"No, I'm being _realistic_ ", the first mammal replied proudly. From what Nick could gather, the table was occupied by a group of four, all in their early teens judging by their undeveloped voices. "A savage fox and a slutty bunny don't make for a great combination, you know?"

Many glares followed the odious and far too loudly stated comment. However, vocal justice could never be served as the attention of everyone in the room was drawn to something else.

A beep, a yellow light and one unmoving fox. The usual commotion of a dining place died down as Nick fought the urge to flee the building. The sound of whispers, pity and derision was quickly broken by a soft voice.

"You're fine, Nick", the rabbit said, padding his forearm lightly. "Calm down."

He remained as the center point of the room for eight more drawn-out seconds until the collar decided to deem his feelings civil again, the green glow reappearing. Connecting his paw to Judy's, he - as well as many other customers - turned to view one of the nearby tables where a porcupine, mongoose, cheetah and an armadillo sat, three of the four mammals having nearly slid under the piece of furniture to escape the many looks of daggers. The remaining individual, the spotted feline, looked at Nick with an expression as stoic as the canid's.

The stare down went on for eight tense seconds before the younger of the two conceded.

The line moved forward.

* * *

Judy had been - and still was - starving. The day - like apparently most in her life nowadays - had been draining in many ways. From having to deal with already being miles behind in her studies to helping Nick deal with his new, unjust "garment" and calming her beyond worried parents, she felt as if the built-up stress had gnawed her empty from the inside out. She had barely had any time to consult herself, but she was glad to put her fox before herself. After all, if it ever came down to it, she knew he'd do the same.

Already halfway through her second and last taco, she could tell her stomach would crave for more filling to reach satisfaction. She couldn't blame Nick for making fun of her for devouring plate after plate of food in mere minutes.

Looking where she always looked in time of a food shortage, she scanned her fox's side of the kitchen island. Hope surged through her entire being as she took in the beautiful sight of a wholly wrapped, untouched burger. However, as she proceeded to put on the most pleading face she could muster to prepare for the upcoming battle, a ruddy paw pushed the object towards her.

Drool practically dripping out of her mouth, she licked her wet lips clean and lifted her gaze to meet his. He nodded, gesturing her to accept his offer.

Locking the screen of her phone, which she'd used for leafing through the recent headlines about the collars, she grabbed the burger and began unwrapping the blue and white paper. "I'm sorry, Nick, I know it's been a much rougher day for you", she said, conflicted. "You sure you'll survive till morning with just one of these things?"

He smirked and nodded again, signing: _'I'll be fine, Carrots. That was for Ms. Famine anyways.'_

Judy bit into the two buns and the juicy fillings between them, not caring how messy or ungraceful she came across. Words became barely distinguishable sounds as she mumbled through a mouthful of food: "How chivalrous of you."

The fox leaned forward, resting his head on his other palm while dreamily watching his bunny down her meal. Only appreciative looks were exchanged for the following few moments as the burger disappeared bite by bite.

Licking her fingers clean, Judy smiled at her tod, finally content. "Thank you. I really needed that."

' _You're welcome.'_

Her movements sluggish, the bunny stood up, gathered the paper wrappings into the bag they came in, and finally walked around the island to throw the thrash into the can under the sink. She could feel the weight of all the day's events slowly set on her. She stretched, yawning.

"I think I'm going to hit the hay. I've got an early lecture tomorrow I really don't need any more professors to hold a grudge against me", she announced. "You coming with or are you gonna watch that dumb show with Finn again?"

Having followed her around the island, he threw away his own bag of garbage and turned to her. _'I pity you for not understanding the beauty of a ghost romance story, Cottontail. Just another proof of how much more sophisticated us foxes are.'_

He grinned and she rolled her eyes, tapping her foot lazily.

"Enjoy the romantic evening then."

She was about to head to their room when the vulpine's arms flailed again.

' _Unfortunately, the show is on a break for the next six months, so I guess I'll have to become a senile like you and go to bed at seven every day.'_

Despite fighting it, she couldn't hold back a light chuckle at his quip. Switching off the lights, they walked through the narrow and unlit hallway where both their room and the bathroom were located.

Their evening routine went by like most other nights, Judy being the first one to shower while Nick tended to his teeth and vice versa. It took them no more than fifteen minutes to return to their chamber with clean, slightly moist fur and cut whiskers.

Letting her half naked fox pass, Judy paused before closing the door to their room. "Goodnight, Finnick!"

Glancing at her mate, she saw him give her a thumbs-up, telling her the usual grumble from the fennec had taken place.

The door came closed with an audible slam.

"What are you doing?" she asked in surprise, seeing him open his cabinet instead of burying himself under the covers as usual. Receiving no response, she walked to the bed, her ears rigid in curiosity as she watched him search through several drawers. Piece after piece of floral patterned fabric landed at her feet, giving her an answer as well as an adequate reason to smirk.

Picking one of the collared, short-sleeved shirts off the floor, Judy sat down on the soft mattress and held the bright-colored garment up in the air, looking at it with both amusement and disbelief.

She was mated to someone who'd worn these… _things_ in public - willingly _._

"And here I thought I'd succeeded in fixing your style", she snickered. "All that's missing is a quickie loan, a pair of flight tickets and some sunscreen."

The fox waddled over and sat beside her, snatching the shirt from her paws. He then tapped the base of his ear vaguely, and the bunny proceeded to retrieve her hearing aids out of the white nightstand that stood a few steps away immediately.

Seeing she was all set up, he leaned close to her ear. "You should've seen me back in my hustling days with one of these and a pair of shades on. Not one vixen could keep their eyes off me."

She giggled some more, examining the pile more carefully. "Well, a pink flamingo print is sorta bound to be a head-turner. I'm disappointed I haven't found these earlier." A snort escaped her. "Is that one Christmas themed?"

Appearing as proud as ever, Nick bobbed his head up and down. "You can laugh all you want, but that was of my best financial decisions to date, Fluff. Only cost me five bucks at an outlet and gave me a fortune in return. I've honestly missed Rudolph, if I'm fully honest."

"For some reason that doesn't surprise me", she said lightly and continued, "Why take these out of where they should be locked till the end of time, though?"

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Very funny, Carrots. I need something for tomorrow that'll hide this thing and I'm definitely not going to wear a scarf indoors."

"You don't think these are worse? Especially in Tundratown?"

He shook his head. "No, I think you may just have a very restricted sense of style. You can't set new trends by mimicking the masses, cutie."

A roll of amethyst eyes followed. "Do you really have to wear one of these things? I'll seriously be embarrassed to just be seen with you", she complained, begging for mercy.

"Sorry, hun bun, but these'll have to do until I get some proper dress shirts", he answered smugly. His neck itched again. Scratching, he continued: "Which you'll help me pick. And pay for."

She looked at him with forced strictness in her expression. "Nick, you can't just empty my wallet every time you need something."

"Sure, I can", he said, grinning. "You see, I'm not the one who's got a problem with being seen out and about in one of these beauties. So, just because I love you, I'm giving you a chance to buy me something that'll save you from embarrassment. Think of it as a gift."

She sighed, the tiredness of before not having gone anywhere. "Aren't you sweet."

"I know, it's crazy how you don't notice that more often", he replied in mock accusation.

The rabbit pouted exaggeratedly. She then leaned over the edge of the bed and swooped up one of the many shirts. It was a light green one with a barely visible, darker leaf print. How it was the subtlest piece of clothing out of all of them, she would never understand.

Presenting the garment to the fox, she spoke: "You're wearing this for tomorrow. And no buts or you're moving back into a storage unit."

Nick disregarded the empty threat. "Ah, a truly classic choice, Ms. Hopps. I may even have to retract that statement about your poor understanding of fashion now."

"Whatever. Can we just forget about those atrocities and go to sleep already?"

* * *

Bellwether loved her office. From the sheer space of it to its shiny wooden furniture and velvety carpet, the room was everything she'd dreamt of and maybe even a little more.

Taking in the magnificent view of the city through the large glass wall behind her desk, she admired the tall, sleek buildings and the busy streets that separated them. A small smile formed on her lips as she thought how one day the traffic lights would be accompanied by thousands upon thousands of similar sources of light.

Of course, reaching that goal would take many years. She would have to proceed with her plan calmly, one careful small step after another. Getting to the position of mayor had been a gigantic victory in itself and she wasn't planning on leaving her brass doorknobs and amazing paintings just yet.

Not to mention the free breakfast in the town hall's heavenly cafeteria.

Never in her life had she eaten salads so tasty made by a predator. She would have to make sure to have the tigress' collar set to minimum alert once the predator was ordered one. Which, if everything was to go as planned, would be inevitable.

The commotion of the traffic could be heard all the way up to her office, even through the glass. She watched as cyclists overtook dozens of very nearly stationery vehicles with ease and how the smaller pedestrians walked in a line by the curb to avoid being trampled on.

Sporadic cases of savage mammals would continue to impair the spirits of the citizens, some cases sending a pred to the hospital for weeks while others will survive with just a few hours of unconsciousness. She'd ensured that having too little Nighthowler wasn't going to be a problem this time around. As long as she had her contact functional in the hospital, the toxin would remain undiscovered and the plan could proceed.

The continuous chaos among the public was bound to strengthen the support for more collars and soon her fellow Zootopians would practically do her job for her. Segregation and discrimination all in the name of public safety. It was a master plan hidden in plain sight.

And the best part of it all?

The best part was that there was no one who could stop her.

The sound of a door clicking open behind her caught her attention. Peeking around her massive chair, the ewe saw a janitorial cart being pushed in, followed by a white hare clad in blue overalls. The lagomorph gave her a polite wave and pushed the cart to one of her bookshelves.

"I was told you wanted these cleaned?"

She nodded at the mammal, grabbing her keys from the tabletop and walking towards the exit. "Yes, I was just about to head home, actually. It's been a rough day and I'm sure you'd like some peace and quiet while you work", she said in a sweet voice.

He smiled in response, putting on disposable vinyl gloves. "Oh, I wouldn't have minded having someone to talk to. Been spending a little too much time in the company of books and dust the last few months, if I'm honest. Have a good evening, though!"

"Likewise!" she answered and walked out of her office with brisk steps.

It was certainly nice to feel in control for once.

* * *

"There's been another attack", Judy said quietly as she landed on the article with a swipe of her finger.

An indistinct mumble that sounded something like "Again?" let her know she'd been acknowledged.

She wiggled her backside tighter against his belly, enjoying the warmth emitting from him. Her eyes skimmed through the text. "A leopard living in the outskirts this time. Her neighbor, a male horse in their thirties, had heard her kits' scream and immediately rushed to help them", her tone changed from compassionate to somber and outright disturbed as she read the following lines. "The kits are fine, but the paramedics were too late to the scene."

Judy swallowed, memories of her fox's teeth sunk deep in her leg resurfacing. They didn't frighten her, but saying they had no negative impact on her would've been a lie. All she felt was sadness, on both their behalves, and disappointment in herself for still thinking about what happened. It was difficult to forget, to say the least.

"Even won't… how he… ou?"

Realizing what was going on, she adjusted her hearing aid, the earpiece having popped out at some point of their cuddling. His speech was still slurred from only having awoken a few minutes ago. "What was that?"

"Do I even want to know how he went out?" he repeated, a little louder than usual.

"I highly doubt that, considering the press didn't want to report on that part."

She felt him shift awkwardly, changing his position to an even more comfortable one. "Geez."

"I don't understand why someone's doing this. What are they trying to achieve?"

Rough pads caressed the rim of her other ear, sending shivers of pleasure down her body.

"Who knows? My best guess is they get some sick joy out of seeing articles like this in the news", he answered after a moment's pondering. "Then again, considering that no one's figured out how the transformation happens, they must have planned this out for quite some time and have the intelligence to do so in the first place", he continued. "Maybe they have the opposite of whatever pred-prey thing you have."

Judy shut her eyes. The attention he was paying to her useless appendages felt amazing. Thank goodness, they still had a good half an hour before they would have to start getting ready.

"Do you think they'll ever stop?"

The light touch of his pads was replaced with the feel of his claws trailing along the inside of her ear.

"Yup. If not of their own accord, then once they're caught."

"You really think the ZPD's gonna solve the case?"

The fox raised himself up so that his upper body was supported by his elbow. This made the rabbit turn onto her back in response. Two pairs of happy eyes met each other with a pair of uncertain, but nonetheless present smiles.

A sudden itch in his neck forced him to cease the gentle strokes just as he leaned in to speak into her ear.

He'd nearly managed to forget he was still wearing the damned thing.

"Weren't you supposed to be the optimist in this relationship?" he inquired amusedly. "There's no way Bogo can wipe a thing like this under the rug. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the feds were to get mixed into all this."

The bunny couldn't help but snicker at his unfounded confidence. He was such a dorky know-it-all and she loved him for it. "You've been watching too many crime dramas."

He shrugged. "What can I say? I feel a close connection to the cool detectives who break the rules just to boost their already massive ego."

"Is that so?"

"Uh huh. The only difference between me and them is that I'd rock a uniform way better", he stated smugly, causing his mate's gaze to roam over him as she imagined him in lazily put-together, blue law-enforcer's outfit. The mental image was quite outlandish, but she had to admit that his judgement wasn't completely off.

A grin formed on her lips and she adopted a teasingly seductive look. "Hmm, I don't know about that. You may need some sort of evidence to back up your claim."

His expression, like his voice, grew in both amusement as well as self-satisfaction. Their muzzles began nearing one another before either of the two even realized.

It was going to be one of _those_ mornings.

"Why am I not surprised you took it there?" he said with a light chuckle. "Will I have to act out the whole good cop, bad cop routine, too?"

Their lips met in a soft kiss and though it was routine to both members of the pair by now, they still enjoyed every moment of intimacy they could share.

Slowly parting, they opened their eyes to see which of them sported the more alluring expression. Neither one of them took the trophy in their own minds.

"That's up to you, sweetie", she replied sultrily, his mouth still lingering only inches above hers. Her paw moved onto his throat to feel the steadily building up growl that was surely already there.

She sure wasn't wrong.

"What you should be thinking about is what you'll do if I decide to resist arrest."

The vulpine was left motionless and disoriented by the many lewd thoughts the bunny had implanted in his brain. Having always prided himself for being able to think clearly in even the gravest of situations, he had to applaud her for being able to mess with his head with just a few well-chosen words.

It was crazy to think how much she'd changed from their first run-in together. How much they'd _both_ changed.

The mingled, deepening scents surrounding the pair reminded him of the task at paw, bringing him back to reality with the flaring of his nostrils and narrowing of his eyes. Predatory senses activated and had the rabbit turned onto her stomach and pinned to the bed in mere seconds. She let out a high-pitched squeak in part surprise and part excitement as his jaws snapped shut on her shoulder, the pressure of his fangs making her laugh out loud.

Maybe it was the drastic differences between them or just the fact that they loved each other immensely, but it seemed that no matter how many times they did this, things always felt fresh. Judy doubted she'd ever get tired of the fox's savage side.

And so, it was with much disappointment and displeasure she felt his grip on both her shoulder and neck loosen until his touch was entirely gone. Turning her head to see what he was doing, she was met with the sight of a confused, slightly panting fox sitting on his knees and clutching the sheets. In addition to the obviously tented boxers, her eyes were quickly drawn to the collar and its yellow glow.

It took her needy and muddy mind a few seconds to register what the light meant and after it did, she adopted a similar look of perplexity as her mate wore.

Trying to figure out if what exactly might've triggered the warning, she got up on her knees and front paws and crawled over to him. She wanted so badly to throw her arms around his cream and fiery orange furred body, but knew the risk wasn't worth it. The collar could go off at any moment, and getting fried to death wasn't on her to-do-list for today.

Opting for sitting down in front of him with her legs pulled up to her chest, she simply looked at him and wondered.

A minute or two passed before the light changed from the ominous yellow back to green.

She didn't wait for a second before throwing herself at him, hugging the breath out of his lungs. His nose explored the base of her ear.

"Sorry, Fluff", he said in a sincere tone. "Guess this thing doesn't like me getting a little wild."

Judy eased her hold on him, bringing her other paw to caress the area around the gadget. "Don't apologize, Nick. You know none of it is your fault", she replied. "We'll just have to take it a little slower."

She felt him shiver as her claws travelled downward through the softer and fluffier fur of his underbelly, followed by a pair of hungry, amethyst eyes.

"Carrots?"

"Mm?"

"The chip in my hand monitors my heartbeat and hormone levels and stuff, right? But how can it know what emotion I'm going through?"

The rabbit didn't put much thought into the question as she slowly approached the white of his undies. "Maybe there's different hormones for each emotion?"

There was another shiver and a gasp from the fox as she reached her goal, teasing the parts of him that had hidden in their sheath back out with gentle strokes through the fabric.

Feeling himself flex repeatedly under the doe's wonderful attention, he found it hard to put together a coherent sentence without getting lost in lust again. He scratched his neck.

"That would make sense - oh, I love you so much - but this thing is only supposed… to control anger", he spoke between a rising frequency of pants. "And I… wasn't angry earlier. At all."

This made her lift her head to face him again. She quirked her brow just as her paw slipped under the boxer's waistband. Were it not for the subject at paw, she would've burst out in laughter at the way his face twisted as they made contact.

"So, you suspect we can't have sex?"

It took him a few seconds to recover. "Maybe. We'll see whether I'm right or not in a moment."

Noticing him reach out, she took his paw and guided it between her thighs, knowing he wanted to return the favor. She felt him push her panties to the side before expertly sliding a finger between her slick folds. Her moan was cut short when she felt her mate's lips on hers again.

Neither of them wanted to be the one to end the kiss, which only intensified in passion with each passing second. Tongues danced in rhythm with their paws as they enjoyed each other's presence.

It was certainly one of the best ways to start off a brand-new day, and this wasn't even close to the peak of their shared ardor.

Needless to say, the second flash of yellow left the two lovers very frustrated and unsatisfied.

* * *

Jack looked at the mostly yellow cart and all its utilities with detest. From the mop and broom to the waste can and the large vinyl bag hanging from the opposite side, he wondered why it all had to be the same awful color. The actual metal structure with its three shelves had been painted black, but that only roused his loathing towards the thing as it made the entirety look like something out of an infomercial ad.

At the very least he was comfortable in his overalls.

Looking both ways of the naturally lit corridor and its recently waxed marble floor to see if anyone was around, the painted hare stepped out of the janitorial closet with the cart following suit. He'd been missing his natural look of grey and black for just over three weeks now, which, even for missions that required extreme patience, was far longer than planned.

The hare wasn't sure if he could bear another dull day of mopping the floors and cleaning dust.

Reaching into his waist pocket, he pulled out white, wireless earbuds and put them on. He was greeted by a multitude of slurps and a distant sound of some old pop song playing in the background. His hips and shoulders began moving to the beat as he got behind the monstrosity on wheels and pushed it down the hall. His hushed words were timed perfectly with the song's lyrics to cause as little suspicion as possible.

"Are those noodles I'm hearing?"

There was some clatter caused by what he presumed was a fork falling into a bowl followed by a mumbled curse. He couldn't help but grin at how easy it was to startle the arctic fox.

" _Oh, hello, agent"_ , a feminine voice answered, acting very nonchalant. _"And no, this is actually chicken soup, so you can just wipe that stupid smirk off your face."_

Keeping his muzzle pointing forward, he glanced at the lone security camera watching the corridor from outside of the building. He winked and took a left turn.

"Still sticking with the agent treatment, huh?"

" _That's what you get for not coming back yet"_ , she replied with haste. " _It would also help if you'd report back every two hours like we agreed."_

Arriving at the grand double doors, he entered the vacant mayor's office, making sure the entrance was locked once he was inside. "I thought it was every two days."

" _Not funny. Now get that drawer open so that I'll get to kill you sooner."_

Chuckling, the hare opened the toolbox on the middle shelf and took out his lock picking kit. They'd spent countless hours trying to find any evidence that Bellwether - the only individual known to have benefitted of the savage predators - was connected to the odd case in anyway, but had yet to find sufficient evidence of such activity. Just like the other two teams assigned to search through the sheep's car and apartment.

He'd roamed through every square inch of the office space apart from a single drawer's contents. The safe inside was their last shot at saving thousands of mammals, predator and many prey animals alike, from systematic oppression.

He kneeled in front of the desk and began the process of getting the bottom drawer open by lubricating its very basic lock. Having the picks, raking tools, tension wrenches and skills of a professional, the metallic mechanism wouldn't take too long to decipher, especially as he'd already done so once in the past.

There was just one more problem afterwards that he couldn't solve himself.

His paws moved swiftly as he placed the tension wrench inside and used a tiny rake to feel the pins move up and down, the side of his head pressed into the piece of wooden furniture. Being a lagomorph helped greatly as his hearing let him know whenever a piece clicked in its intended place, though the earbuds were a slight distraction.

"Time?"

There was another slurp. _"She still has well over three quarters of her meal left. You're in no hurry, agent."_

This got a sigh out of him. He hated it when she didn't use his name. Agent sounded so… neutral, like she only saw them as coworkers.

"Thanks."

A tense silence ensued as the hare continued his work, switching the rake to a thin pick to get the last few noncompliant pins. He pondered whether or not he should apologize, but soon realized he didn't even know what to be apologetic about in the first place. The lack of results was slowly getting on both of their nerves and the fact they hadn't been able to properly meet after the weekend only added to their frustration.

He really hoped that the safe inside would reveal something conclusive.

With a last click and a careful twist, he pulled the surprisingly heavy drawer open. A surprised expression replaced the prior serious one as he saw that the digital display on the miniature door already had the text "Welcome, Dawn" scrolling through it.

" _I don't get why some mammals think it's a good idea to have their safe accessible through their phone"_ , she said in a slightly annoyed monotone. _"I swear, this occupation doesn't offer any challenge nowadays. Being a mechanic was more intense than this."_

Jack smiled and pulled the lid open. His gaze fell on a single phone lying on a bed of foam rubber. There was a post-it note stuck to its back with a series of digits written on it.

Walking over to the cart to retrieve one of the memory duplicators she'd supplied him with, he spoke quietly: "Hey, Skye?"

" _What is it, agent?"_

"You don't have anything special planned for tonight, do you?"

He could hear her placing the bowl of soup on a table surface, delaying her answer.

" _Why?"_

"I was wondering if we could arrange that killing you mentioned earlier for the evening?" he replied happily, quickly disassembling the phone's back so that he could replace the SIM with the vixens own chip. He wasn't in a rush, but the excitement of the finding pushed his body to function faster.

"Plus, I may have some info you'll want to take a good look at."

Yet another slurp, though this time originating from a drink, reached his ears.

" _You better bring me flowers."_

* * *

The library was, as on nearly any other given night, very quiet and uninhabited. It was very rare for the massive ice structure to be used by anyone else than COST's students at the later hours and even then, the number of mammals never exceeded a few dozen. It may have been because of the much harsher temperatures of Tundratown's nights or a general disinterest in literature, but for Judy the place had become a prime location to spend time. Not only did the building offer a peaceful space to concentrate on both studying and chatting with friends, it also brought back a warm feeling of familiarity from when her life had taken a major turn for the better.

She could almost see the fox's gray hoodie waiting for her on her favorite table each time she stepped inside.

Sitting at that exact table now, she was working on a very important assignment on the different levels of court, one that she _needed_ to have done by the following day.

One she'd completely forgotten about after both Ben and Fru had magically shown up over half an hour ago. She really should've turned off the location option on her phone.

 _*Yeah, we went to see his doctor the day before yesterday*_ , she typed on her device, the other two mammals staring at their own screens. _*We had an appointment for next week but I couldn't wait that long. I've done enough of that as it is.*_

 _*Did they fix the collar?*_ the cheetah inquired.

 _*No, the doc said she'll report the problem to the producer and that we'd have to wait for the next model to come out.*_

 _*Meaning?*_

 _*Up to three months*_ , she replied with a sense of bitterness brewing inside her. _*She prescribed me some suppressants but I've been avoiding taking them since they make me all sleepy.*_

 _*And how's Nick been holding up?*_ the shrewd asked, looking at the rabbit's fatigued stance with pity. She looked stressed with bags under her eyes and wore the kind of small smile one had to force when they really didn't feel like expressing happiness. Had they shown up any time later, Fru wouldn't have been surprised if they'd found the bunny sleeping on the keyboard of her laptop.

If this was the exuberant Judy she knew, she could only imagine what Nick must've looked like.

She exchanged concerned looks with Ben as they saw moisture build up on their friend's eyes before she went to answer.

 _*He's been a little down in the dumps lately. He's become way less talkative and more on edge and every conversation we have ends in him telling me he's not worth my time, sometimes in a shouting match. I know he's said it a lot before, but these days I feel like he really means it. I don't understand what's gotten into him since at first he seemed like the collar didn't bother him that much.*_

 _*Where's he now?*_ the feline asked.

 _*Home with Finn probably. Studying, watching TV, talking feelings and drinking - not sure. We agreed to give each other some space to calm down and get our heads straight so I came here.*_

 _*Sounds to me like he's just frustrated he can't love you the way he'd want to. You know, the same exact thing that's going on with you*_ , the smallest of the three voiced her opinion. _*I say you two just need some time away from stress and you'll be fine.*_

Judy bit her lip. _*I'd like to take him to my parents but we're going to be spending the whole summer at campus. Plus I've missed way too many shifts already so the weekends are off too.*_

 _*I don't know what to do if this gets any worse.*_

* * *

"I know what you should do", Finnick said to the other fox over the noises originating from the TV and the stove.

Nick turned his head away from the pan full of different vegetables he was preparing for his bunny and looked at the fennec. He felt terrible for how he'd been acting the past few days and wanted to apologize for it once she returned. Sure, he'd had a hard time, but that didn't justify making it even harder for someone else. He just didn't want to see her sad anymore.

"And what's that?" he asked.

"Drugs", the deep voice answered flatly, "the calming kind."

The red fox tilted his head and scrunched his brow in confusion. He'd had zero expectations in his friend's suggestion and somehow he'd managed to fall even below that. "Sedatives?"

"Yeah, or whatever they use to lower a heartbeat."

Nick shook his head in disbelief and returned to cooking, adding spices into the steamy mix. "You seriously think that'd work?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't. You can ask Bates about it but I think it's at least worth a try", Finnick stated. "I've even got a few left over from the van times if you want to try it out."

* * *

It was close to midnight hours when Judy finally made it up the hellish stairs of ice and arrived at their front door. She felt better after her friends' consultation, but it had also had its toll as she'd only finished her assignments no less than half an hour ago. She'd cope with less sleep though if it meant getting her relationship with Nick back on rails.

Opening the door, she wasn't surprised to find the whole apartment without a source of light.

Starving for anything to eat, she disrobed her heavy winter clothes and stepped down the hall towards the kitchen, only stopping on the way to peek into the first room on the left where her fox already lay on his back with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. She grinned at how his other leg trashed around while his eyes twitched wildly. She badly wanted to find her hearing aid and go closer to listen to the little whines he must've been letting out. It had been quite some time since she'd last seen him sleep so well.

Leaving her bag at the doorway, she continued to the other end of the hallway and turned the corner. Her nose twitching, she realized that a delicious scent lingered in the air and upon turning on the kitchen lights, her gaze was met with a mouthwatering sight of veggie mix.

There was no doubt about it. They'd weather the storm no matter what.

Together.

* * *

It had happened out of nowhere, the moment she'd only dared to dream about.

The first message she received telling to check the news had been from her mother. She'd initially wondered why'd the older doe had taken such a sudden liking to crying laughing emojis, but after seeing the headline of the top story, Judy understood why she'd included them.

She'd made a mental note to later explain her mother why the icons weren't a proper way to describe such an amazing event, even if there were tears and smiles involved.

Not a single thought of hesitation had entered her mind as she'd darted out of the lecture hall and read through every detail the ZBI's statement had contained. From Bellwether's role as the mastermind behind the huge conspiracy to the arrests and confessions of her henchmen, each line had brought immense joy to her heart.

Messages from some of her siblings and nearly every one of her friends had begun flooding her phone, but none of their messages received any attention from the bunny. Her first and foremost objective was to find her fox and tell him the good news personally, even if he had already found out about the downfall of the sheep mayor.

She'd nearly lost her belief and trust in the city's entire judicial system and law enforcement. Nearly lost her belief in her dream to one day become a well-respected lawyer. The case had caused her to nearly lose her mate and had taken nearly six of what should've been the best months of her life. The evil ruminant had even come close to taking her life.

And yet Judy was still here, walking to the cafeteria while smiling as happily as ever. After three and a half weeks of restricted emotions and difficulty, she was finally sure that everything was going to be fine once again.

She couldn't wait to see the happy tears running down her fox's muzzle when the hideous, itch-inducing apparatus would be taken off for good.

More than that, she couldn't wait for the moment they'd finally get to express their love for one another without anything to stop them.

* * *

A warmth lingered in the flower-patterned sheets, the minimally clothed fox lying sprawled out on the unmade bed. Though his fiery orange and russet character occupied the entire length of the mattress, he felt that there was still too much room for just himself. There was potential for so much more comfort.

Unfortunately, that potential was just out of his reach, sitting at their shared desk with her nose deep in a small-printed book and paws keying her laptop.

Stretching out his tired limbs and jammed back, he let out a loud sigh and followed it up with a purposely prolonged yell.

"Carrooots!"

She smiled, having obviously heard the shout, but didn't acknowledge him.

Nick grinned. "Oh, that's how it's going to be, huh?" he mumbled, getting up and off the bed.

The rabbit saw him approach her from the corner of her eye. She never stopped reading and typing even as she felt his hot and humid breath ruffle the fur on her nape. "Don't you dare do it, Nick", she said in a low but nonthreatening tone, unable to hide her amusement and giddiness from the preying fox. "I gotta have this done before I leave for the midday lecture and you know it."

The canid, not planning on giving up so easily, nibbled on the crook of her neck, his fangs causing a little stinging sensation that was then alleviated by a lick of his tongue. He went to speak into her ear. "You're awfully cute when you play hard to get, you know?"

Although she still wouldn't look at him, Judy's expression multiplied in both innocence and the size of her grin. "I'm not playing!" she exclaimed, "I seriously need to study!"

"Sure, Carrots. It totally doesn't look like you're already over halfway through whatever you're doing and there's definitely not over two hours left before you have to go", he countered smugly. "Please do hurry or you'll be expelled."

She rolled her eyes at him. "This is serious, Nick. I need to get this done."

"Uh huh, you can read the book in bed and finish writing later."

"I don't have time for that."

"I'll do the cooking."

"I need more time than that."

"And I need my tail warmed."

She pretended to sigh heavily, finally meeting her mate's half-lidded eyes with a turn of her upper body. "I do love your tail."

"Good."

Snatching the book off the table, Nick jumped back to bed and pulled the blanket over his body. His paw tapped on the empty space next to him, gesturing for the bunny to join in.

Still playing a little reluctant, she walked over lazily and laid down in the same fashion. Returning her the book, the fox wrapped his arms around her waist and his tail soon found itself squeezed between their bodies.

Having learned to cherish moments such as this one to the absolute fullest, Judy dropped the meaningless stack of papers over the bed's edge. Her paw went to reach for her plate-like alarm clock, setting it for an entire hour later into the future. Nothing was going to disturb them now. Not some random mammals' opinions, not the past and certainly not a speciest sheep plotting a conspiracy against them. They didn't have to worry about flashes of yellow or loud beeps anymore.

All of it was behind them, mountaintops that had already been conquered.

Judy turned herself around and pressed her muzzle deep into her mate's chest fur, enclosing him in a hug much like he was currently doing. His snout was placed between her ears as the two found the most comfortable positions possible to enjoy the warm coziness of their little nest for the next hour.

Maybe even more.

* * *

 **A/N: Dr. Bales belongs to _Fox in the hen house._**


End file.
